Chancellor Merkel’s nuclear free gamble has paid off

The British right wing economic magazine The Economist, which in 1998 had gleefully predicted oil prices of “$5 a barrel by 2010”, branded Merkel’s May 2011 action “a lunatic gamble.”

Germany’ trade surplus remains massive while the UK goes on running huge deficits, to add to its national debt and small scale economy status, relative to economic giant Germany

Germany’s Energiewende And The End Of Nuclear Power, The Market Oracle Nov 25, 2012 By: Andrew_McKillop”…..The real blackout was political. Merkel’s support for the Energiewende, like her support for many other policies and programs had always been tepid. However, she had suddenly pinned Germany’s future entirely on renewable energy and energy saving. One journalist jibed that it was like French wine-makers suddenly saying they would abandon pesticides or the Pope would advise using condoms.
Merkel’s early life and career, like Margaret Thatcher’s had included both pure and applied chemistry and science research, before entering politics. Merkel believed this made her well aware of the enormity of the task that lay ahead – but also taking a leaf from Thatcher and her Churchill-type posturing and preening, she said Germany now had a historic opportunity to step forward on the world stage. In her own words: “We believe that we can show those countries who decide to abandon nuclear power—or not to start using it—how it is possible to achieve growth, create jobs and economic prosperity while shifting the energy supply toward renewable energies.”

The nuclear industry and its supporters were initially enraged by Merkel’s decision. They predicted blackouts, skyrocketing electricity prices and economic ruin. They said Germany would be forced to import electricity from, of all places, France’s nuclear power plants or Poland’s coal-fired plants. Utilities in Germany would have to burn more coal to make up for the lost nuclear power, which they do today, but to make up for delays and commercial disputes surrounding the building of gas-fired power plants to back up renewable-source power generation. The claim that greenhouse gas emissions would “skyrocket” was also false, they declined a little in 2011 and increased a little in 2012.

The British right wing economic magazine The Economist, which in 1998 had gleefully predicted oil prices of “$5 a barrel by 2010”, branded Merkel’s May 2011 action “a lunatic gamble.” Germany’ trade surplus remains massive while the UK goes on running huge deficits, to add to its national debt and small scale economy status, relative to economic giant Germany….. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article37715.html