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"that "the big four" (energy companies) have filled their pockets with sweet, sweet nuclear-power-money and have externalized all the other costs since the begi

"that "the big four" (energy companies) have filled their pockets with sweet, sweet nuclear-power-money and have externalized all the other costs since the beginning." Presumably the government entered those contracts willingly, though. I don't understand this framing of "have filled their pockets". If you really believe the money was squandered, blame the politicians giving it away, not the energy companies. "So, 2040 is not that far, and if we build more nuclear power plants we get into that "high demand" area where we'll use 28% of all found Uranium by 2040." Just like peak oil that never happened? But even if we run out, they keep saying we have 10 years to prevent a climate catastrophe, so 20 years would buy us a lot of time in comparison. "a long story of corruption and lobbyism" Corruption in what sense? Lobbyism is not illegal, and in fact presumably necessary. The greens are also "lobbying" for solar power and wind power.

grandchild 5y ago
> If you really believe the money was squandered, blame the politicians giving it away, not the energy companies. why not both? believe me, we blame the politicians plenty too :)
goodpoint 5y ago
> Lobbyism is not illegal, and in fact presumably necessary It's illegal (and immoral) in most of the world.
- kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
  That makes no sense at all.
- fwn 5y ago
  > [Lobbyism is] illegal (and immoral) in most of the world. Care to elaborate what you mean by that? Wikipedia describes lobbying as "the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying That in itself does sound neither intrinsically immoral or illegal. Climate and environmental think tanks lobby in the same way as financial or industrial interests.
  - goodpoint 5y ago
    The very second paragraph from the link you posted reads: "The ethics and morals involved with legally bribing or lobbying or influence peddling are complicated. Lobbying can, at times, be spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law in order to serve their own interests" Here context is crucial: the sentence in the parent post was a response to "a long story of corruption and lobbyism". In most countries it's illegal to hand money to politicians and its seen as corruption, with few strictly regulated exceptions. In the US it's very different and the amount of money involved is staggering. The term "a long story of corruption and lobbyism" is not referring to the legal and socially acceptable "lobbying" but the other one.
martin_a 5y ago
Oh yes, they entered it willingly, so friends and they themselves could get a nice job in the steering board after their career. There's nothing "illegal" here, only immoral, but lots of that.

grandchild 5y ago

> If you really believe the money was squandered, blame the politicians giving it away, not the energy companies. why not both? believe me, we blame the politicians plenty too :)

goodpoint 5y ago

> Lobbyism is not illegal, and in fact presumably necessary It's illegal (and immoral) in most of the world.

kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
That makes no sense at all.
fwn 5y ago
> [Lobbyism is] illegal (and immoral) in most of the world. Care to elaborate what you mean by that? Wikipedia describes lobbying as "the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying That in itself does sound neither intrinsically immoral or illegal. Climate and environmental think tanks lobby in the same way as financial or industrial interests.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  The very second paragraph from the link you posted reads: "The ethics and morals involved with legally bribing or lobbying or influence peddling are complicated. Lobbying can, at times, be spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law in order to serve their own interests" Here context is crucial: the sentence in the parent post was a response to "a long story of corruption and lobbyism". In most countries it's illegal to hand money to politicians and its seen as corruption, with few strictly regulated exceptions. In the US it's very different and the amount of money involved is staggering. The term "a long story of corruption and lobbyism" is not referring to the legal and socially acceptable "lobbying" but the other one.

martin_a 5y ago

Oh yes, they entered it willingly, so friends and they themselves could get a nice job in the steering board after their career. There's nothing "illegal" here, only immoral, but lots of that.