Who Wants Treatment from a Disgruntled Doctor?

Long waits, substandard treatment and lack of access to the most innovative therapies are old stories in socialized medical systems. But anyone still tempted to support the Bernie Sanders model of government-run health care should observe the latest developments in the U.K. A system that transforms doctors and nurses into unionized government bureaucrats should not be expected to prioritize patient care.

In the Times of London, Kat Lay reports on the latest round of work stoppages expected this week in Britain’s National Health Service:

Junior doctors are due to strike for five days from Thursday, in what is expected to be the largest ever industrial action in the health service. They will be followed by consultants on Thursday and Friday next week . . . The Society of Radiographers will also walk out for 48 hours from 8am on July 25 . . . 

More than half a million appointments and procedures have been cancelled due to NHS staff strikes since December. A three-day walkout of junior doctors last month led to 105,120 inpatient and outpatient appointments being postponed . . . 

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, says junior doctors have refused to shift from calls for a 35 per cent pay increase, which he says would fuel inflation. The [British Medical Association’s] junior doctor leaders have suggested that any rise could be delivered over a number of years.

At the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, Elizabeth Arnold reports on criticism of Mr. Barclay by the political opposition:

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting . . . cautioned that the “worst strikes in the history of the NHS are still to come”, as the shadow health secretary asked in the Commons “what is the Health Secretary’s plan now to stop these strikes from going ahead?”

Ms. Arnold quotes additional barbs from Mr. Streeting aimed at his political opponent Mr. Barclay:

“He’s lost the confidence of nurses, he lost the confidence of radiologists, the junior doctors and consultants and he can’t even successfully negotiate with his own Chancellor. So what is the Health Secretary’s plan now to stop these strikes from going ahead?”

Can you imagine anything more terrifying than a health system so politicized that to function properly it requires doctors and nurses to have confidence in government officials? The U.S. health care system has its faults. But thank goodness it has plenty of highly capable life-saving doctors who’ve spent entire careers operating without any confidence whatsoever in government officials.

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“Why Weren’t My Guys Able to Make Money on It?”
The ESG crowd needs to get its story straight. Politically correct Wall Streeters like to pretend that managing with “Environmental, Social and Governance” goals is a way to do well by doing good. It’s as if there’s a progressive free lunch available for those who want to curb emissions without paying a price. The problem for the trendy Wall Streeters is that their allies in the environmental movement are suggesting the opposite—and all but advertising the fortunes available for those willing to defy the mantras of the left.

The Journal’s Benoît Morenne reports from Houston:

Climate activists and Wall Street are making it tougher for Big Oil to stay in the oil business. They’ve also helped make Jeffery Hildebrand a multibillionaire.

Hildebrand, who is little known outside his hometown of Houston, has become one of America’s largest independent drillers by buying assets on the cheap, cutting costs and then squeezing out both oil and profit from wells that others left for dead.

Mr. Morenne explains Mr. Hildebrand’s company, Hilcorp Energy:

It’s a business model that is growing from a niche into a juggernaut as the industry’s giants, facing mounting calls to cut their carbon emissions, dial back on drilling and shed assets. Hilcorp is privately held so it doesn’t face ESG demands . . . Hilcorp has become a natural clearinghouse for big oil companies looking to unload aging wells that may leak copious amounts of methane, a powerful atmosphere-warming gas. It’s now the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas among U.S. oil-and-gas producers after ConocoPhillips, according to a May report by environmental nonprofits Ceres and the Clean Air Task Force . . . 

According to Hildebrand, the company invests responsibly in older assets, whose environmental performance had often been neglected. Hilcorp has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from its operations and energy use by over 40% and cut methane emissions by 35% since 2019, he said. Hildebrand said Hilcorp’s role in the energy transition is to continue to produce fossil fuels to meet global demand.

This is not just ESG arbitrage. The informative report makes clear that Mr. Hildebrand has been a successful risk-taker and a disciplined operator who is more nimble than the oil giants in finding ways to squeeze additional production out of aging wells. But the point is that the more candid members of the ESG crowd are sharing their views about the secret sauce that has given Mr. Hildebrand a net worth approaching $9 billion. Mr. Morenne reports:

Andrew Logan, a senior director at Ceres, said that Hilcorp’s entire business model is aimed at extending the life of wells that the majors have no economic interest in exploiting, and that bigger companies would have to plug to meet their emissions-reduction goals.

Sounds like keeping wells unplugged is a path to riches. Thanks for the investment advice, Ceres!

As for the people who are actually paid to provide investment expertise, fund managers who collect hefty fees from ESG—or who seek positive press by pushing such agendas on all companies—need to be honest with investors about the costs of political activism.

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Late Show for All Ages
The Associated Press reports:

A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give skygazers in 17 American states a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere.

Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most often seen in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, but an 11-year solar cycle that’s expected to peak in 2024 is making the lights visible in places farther to the south.

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Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking
“What I discovered when I wanted to install a wind turbine at home,” Washington Post, July 11

Pumping Politics
“Joe Rogan and Elon Musk mock MSNBC for claiming that working out is a ‘far right’ obsession,” Fox News, July 11

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James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival” and also the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi.”

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(Teresa Vozzo helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to Jackie Harty and James Marquardt.)

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