Well, don't look now, but Germany is about to use the government to take over the oil industry in that country, putting itself largely in control of all energy production.
How could government control over private industry possibly go wrong? Especially in Germany of all places.
From Bloomberg:
Germany is in advanced talks to take over Uniper SE and two other large gas importers in a historic step to avoid a collapse of its energy market, according to people familiar with the matter.
State ownership of Uniper, VNG AG and Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, formerly Gazprom Germania GmbH, is the main solution under discussion, the people said. The government is considering buying Fortum Oyj's controlling stake in Uniper for a nominal price and would then inject billions of euros into the company through a capital increase, according to some of the people.
The government in Germany doing such a massive takeover of an important private sector, like energy, is exactly the kind of thing that conspiracies are made of.
The three companies are central pillars of Germany's energy infrastructure, bringing gas from all over the world to fire Europe's power stations, run factories and heat homes. Their physical assets help store and transport energy, while their teams of traders buy and sell billions of euros of contracts each year to keep the continent's economy afloat and societies stable.
Asked about nationalization plans, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said: "Things are complex, we are working it through very carefully."
They are nationalizing the oil industry. This is a big deal.
It's not unlike Germany's actions almost a century ago.
This is bad stuff here.
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