Energy Crises I Four Oil Crises First Oil

Energy Crises - I

Four Oil Crises First Oil Crisis: 1973 -74 Arab Oil boycott, 4 X OPEC price increase Second Oil Crisis: 1978 Iranian Revolution Third Oil Crisis: 1981 -86 Reagan Depression Fourth Oil Crisis: 1990 -1991 Gulf War

Additional Dimensions Crisis of Nuclear Power Anti-Nuclear Power Movement Shut down nuclear power industry Crisis of Energy & Environment Anti-nuclear against nuclear waste against meltdown Anti-hydrocarbon against acid rain against strip-mining Pro-"Soft" Energy Paths renewable energy sources solar archictecture

Theory Question of Energy Efficiency Commoner: Thermodynamics 1 st Law: Neither created nor destroyed 2 nd Law: tendency to degrade Loses in inefficient energy use, technical issue Crisis of Human Energy Midnight Notes: Political Thermodynamics Behind crises of non-human energy Lies a crisis of human energy

Physics & Class Conflict - I Political Reading not only of Thermodynamics but of history of Physics 17 th C: Period of rise of industrial capital Newton (1643 -1727) development of celestial mechanics, problem of irregular gravitational impulses required God for solution Conflicts w/new labor class required regularization via clock, state intervention Newton worked at mint, state power to deal with counterfieters.

Physics & Class Conflict - II 19 th C: rise of autonomous working class movement, unionism Physics: thermodynamics to deal with dynamic systems Carnot: channel exploding masses for work Mayer: First Law: endless possibilities of capturing work 2 nd Law: rising entropy decling availability of energy for work

Physics & Class Conflict - III Threat of revolution (1848, 1870, etc) evokes ultimate "unavailibility" of w. c. energy for work, revolution parallels "heat death" Science Fiction: Nightland, sun dies, endless night on earth Time Machine, eloi & morlocks Back & forth exchange between literature and Science

Physics & Class Conflict - IV Link between physics & social control is emphasis thermodynamics gives to technological change & flexibility in harnessing energy Taylorism & Fordism Post-Fordism & Information Society

Information & Maxwell's Demon requires information to sort molecules

Business Demons Teachers Professors Personnel Officers Supervisors Quality Control Overseers All weed out "high entropy" workers to maximize work extraction & delay doom

Energy/Work Crisis First Law says no "energy crisis" possible energy takes many forms 2 nd Law says real crisis is extraction of work from human beings, realization of "working" class human energy takes many forms, not all can be harnessed for work business problem: extraction, control

Work & Crisis of Keynesianism acceleration of wages decelleration of productivity decline in productivity of housework, schoolwork i. e. , refusal of work = refusal to give energy to business Results: general problem specific problems in "energy sectors"

Crisis in Coal Industry - I W. Cleaver Article on Wildcats in Coal came after failure of proverty programs linked miners & communities rupture of old union control 1950: Bituminous Coal Agreement codified productivity deal, massive layoffs, K/L 1960 s: absenteeism, refusal of work, antiunion organ. , repression, poverty aid, but workers use CAP's, black lung campaign

Crisis in Coal Industry - II 1970 s: Restructuring coal taken over by oil, steel, utilities expansion of strip-mining in Western states environmental laws undermined Eastern Coal State sanctioned OPEC increases in oil then gas etc prices undercut wages State push for nuclear power

Crisis in Oil - I 4 X Oil Price increase result of pressures inside OPEC countries result of sanctioning by US from outside Internal Pressures Decline in real value of oil (terms of trade) reduced value of oil export Conflicts of modernization required money CIA Overthrow of Iranian govt in 1953 Rural urban migration, urbanization pressures

Crisis in Oil - II External Forces US had let OPEC know it approved of oil price increases (see Oppenheim) Europeans not happy, saw advantage to US Trilateral Commission saw opportunity recycled petrodollars road to conversion of wages into capital OPEC as global financial intermediary

OPEC as a "financial intermediary" financial intermediaries take in large number of small "deposits" make smaller number of larger loans "Deposits" OPEC/ Banks Loans

OPEC & Sraffa Sraffian economics = critique of neoclassical microtheory critique of "capital theory": aggegation requires prices but theory purports to determine prices Alternative: no aggregation, focus on determining power of "basic goods" prices, e. g. , oil ! Manipulation of prices of basic goods can cause shift of value from wages to profits

Wages to Profits? Oil price achieves shift of value from wages to profits if and only if prcies increases are accepted via a fall in real wages & decline in other imports But workers refused this decline forced money wages up apace w/inflation refused austerity programs to reduce real wages in other ways So, petrodollars financed imports not Investments, set stage for debt crisis

2 nd Oil Crisis Iranian Revolution begun by oil field workers revolt against Shah's modernization undermined Shah's role for US as sub-imperial power to police the Persian Gulf OPEC seized cut-off in Iranian Oil exports to again increase oil prices Workers responded as in 1 st Oil shock Carter brought in Volcker to attack wages

3 rd Oil Shock Reagan retains Volcker, plunges world into depression, dramatic reduction in demand for oil, oil prices collapse Panic in oil industry, not just OPEC but also US With low prices, oil production increases, causing even lower prices George Bush flies to Persian Gulf in 1986 to get Gulf States to cut back on oil production

4 th Oil Shock: War Gulf War can be seen as response to 3 rd shock of low prices Saddam Husein attacks Kuwait for "economic warfare", high oil production means low prices and Saddam needs revenue to deal with aftermath of Iran - Iraq war Oil industry at first happy with Saddam's assertiveness, likes higher prices ($25/b) US suckers Saddam/Kuwait? Slaps him down Militarization provides control of M. E. labor

Business & Gulf War caused big oil price rise Gulf War created opportunity for: push on North Slope push for off-shore drilling revival of nuclear power industry Gulf War increased local militarization Gulf War led to dramatic reorganization of labor force (Palestinians out of Kuwait, Yemini out of Saudia Arabia)

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