Ask HN: Why are energy prices soaring in Europe?
The elephant in the room: The ECB creating &gt; 2 trillion euros out of thin air for COVID response (As did the BoE, the Fed etc), whilst simultaneously suspending half their economies so that productive output dropped significantly.<p>It has been known for centuries that large increases in the stock of money result in broad price increases, and there is a mountain of historical evidence to support this notion. It is largely ignored by modern &quot;economists&quot; (particularly the modern monetary theorists, who hold the idea that we can just keep creating money at no cost).<p>Energy price increases are not just unique to Europe, but they are occurring globally for the same reasons. This trend began well before the Russian invasion, but clearly after the 2020 response to COVID.<p>From most-impactful to least-impactful on the price of energy (and everything else), you have 1: Reckless monetary policy. 2: Reckless green agenda. 3. RUS&#x2F;UKR conflict.<p>#3 certainly provides a convenient excuse for those in power though, who are directly responsible for #1 and #2.