Warren Buffett Was Right on Energy, China’s in Debt – ENB Weekly Recap

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Is China’s Debt Bomb About to Explode, and What Is the Impact on Global Markets?

September 23, 2025 Clark Savage

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Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

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Michael Tanner: [00:00:00] Warren Buffett was right on energy. China’s in debt. Next on the Energy Newsbeat weekly recap. [00:00:05][5.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:14] Warren Buffett was right about wind energy, and you should not invest in it without tax breaks and subsidies, and now that they’re gone? What do you think you ought to do, Michael? In the world of renewing energy, energy voice few voices carry as much weight as Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Michael, I had a lot of fun writing this article. We get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms, that’s the only reason to build them, he said in 2014. They don’t make sense without a tax credits. [00:00:49][34.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:00:49] Can we have a quick moment of silence for wind energy? All right, that was enough of that. [00:00:54][5.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:54] Okay, that was good enough. Okay, let’s keep going. Let’s go down to this bottom line here. I really want to ask a question. As a consumer and a taxpayer, nobody ever talks about who pays for all the profits that Warren Buffett put in his pocket. Consumer electricity costs have been dramatically increasing across around the world due to the addition of wind and solar, and the subsidies and the printed money are only part of the equation. I want to sit here and take a look at this. Warren Buffett, while BHE, Berkshire Hathaway, represents a direct foray into energy production, the conglomerate’s overall portfolio reflected a diversification approach. Listen to this. How many millions it is right here. Berkshire Hathaway harvested approximately 6.1 billion in tax payments from the federal government. Holy smokes, Batman. 6. 1 billion in tax returns paid in subsidies. That was just, how much money could you have built out of that? I will cover that here in a sec. [00:02:05][70.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:05] Well, here’s even the craziest part. That represents a negative tax rate, okay? So why does Warren Buffett, so. Absolutely. So Warren Buffett on one hand says they don’t make sense without the tax credit, but then I’m going to use that tax credit to lower my over taxes. I am the first one, if you listen to this show at all, you hear when we pay the bills, we love that investing in oil and gas, you get a tax benefit, but there’s a difference from a tax benefit than a tax credit. There are two different things. So when people say the oil industry is subsidized, I say no, no, it’s incentivized, and there’s a difference between subsidies and there is a difference in incentive. This is a subsidy, this is a tax subsidy. It’s unbelievable. I mean, here, and you mentioned that, 6.1 billion tax payments from these credits, that occurred from 2019 to 2022. In that time period, basically they had about 6 billion in profits. Meaning, so it’s a tax harvest way. It’s, you know, if you’re a sports fan and you’ve been following this whole Steve Ballmer, maybe may have been giving illegal payments to Kawhi Leonard, well, what was the mechanism to do that? It was carbon credits. That’s the funniest part that nobody talks about. Why is probably Steve Ballmer, I don’t wanna say innocent, and we’re going down a hard, but he’s probably innocent because he wasn’t investing in this to give Kawhi Leonard money. He was investing in it because he wanted the negative tax credits associated with the carbon credits that this aspiration company was able to do. So you see it all over the economy. It’s unbelievable. [00:03:37][92.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:38] Oh, absolutely. California won’t replace the expiring 7,000 federal EV tax credit. Governor Newsom, I absolutely am not surprised that he can’t do it. Newsom described the federal expiration of federal vandalism, but emphasize that California simply can’t afford to compensate for the loss opting to instead prioritizing investments in EV charging infrastructure. This man is absolutely a walking billboard for stupidity. If Trump kills the federal EV tax credits, then California will replace it for its residents. Newsom declared at the time framing it was a standard national, he was trying to save it. Well, he can’t because he doesn’t have any money. He’s bankrupted. He took a state that had billions in surplus to billions in deficit and ruined his economy. [00:04:35][57.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:36] Yeah, it’s extremely, I mean, this is extremely predictable. Okay, I mean, if you have, again, that does not like a broken record, but if you had of all have listened to the show, you saw the route California was going. They run up to the line. Oh, we’re gonna do all this crazy stuff. And then when it actually gets down to it, they actually ironically act rationally, at least extension of this tax credit would have been just insane. You would have said, okay, well, these people actually are living on a different planet than we are. At least with this ruling, we know, okay, they can at least look at data. And even if it goes against their narrative, we’re gonna go ahead and play it. So from that standpoint, I can’t necessarily say they’re idiots. At least they saw the data and was like, maybe we should kill them. [00:05:20][44.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:21] Well, it’s because he had no money. The other thing that’s really critical is that they’re now trying to- Well, time out, Stu. [00:05:26][5.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:05:25] I know a lot of people that don’t have any money, but still spend like they do. So that’s usually not an answer. [00:05:30][5.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:31] That’s because they had the Fed to print the money. So let’s get rid of the Fed. Hey, the next thing, I had to slide that in, but the next is Governor Newsom is now trying to get permitting reform done. He’s listened to Steve Hilton, who I just interviewed, and that was a great interview. And he’s saying, oh, we need to go ahead and do more drilling, but that’s not gonna help the closing downstream refineries. So he is, I think he’s done too much too far and the crisis is gonna be coming around the corner. Oil pipeline for Canada comes under siege in Michigan. This one is kind of fun. The Michigan, Michael, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case regarding the Line 5 pipeline tunnel permit by Tribal Nations and Environmental Group. This goes under the Michigan. Line 5 begins at Lake Superior, Wisconsin. Where Canadian crude and NGLs flow off Enbridge mainline system. From there, the line cuts across Michigan, supplying propane to the Upper Peninsula and feedstock refineries in Detroit and ending in San Area, Ontario. That makes Michigan both customers a corridor, while Canada has a double stake, both the producer and shipping oil east to consumer spending on Sierra’s refinerries. [00:06:56][84.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:56] I mean, this goes back to when we started this show, like five, 10 years ago. Oh yeah. Five, seven years ago, Stu, because what were the two big topics we were talking about? Line 5 and the Dakota Access pipeline. You’ve heard a peep about the Dakota access pipeline and now Line 5, it’s like a blast from the past. Again, just run this through downtown Dearborn. That’s all I want. Just migrate it around this Indian reservation and have it go right through the government building there in Dearborn, that’s my solution. [00:07:25][28.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:25] This is Warren Buffett. He’s calling. He’s got a solution. Hello, Warren. Yes, no. Okay, so you’re just gonna put these all on rail? Okay, great. We’re just going to go ahead and kill the pipeline. We’re going to kill the Keystone pipeline. We’re gonna go ahead and kill this pipeline and then you have more to put on rails. Okay, Great. Thanks, Mr. Buffett, there you go. Problem solved. [00:07:44][18.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:44] And that’s the craziest part is this, they’re now going, this crude’s gonna flow. So people, they think that they’ve stopped this crude from flowing. No, no, no. What you’ve done now is you’ve put it in what is less environmentally safe methods, more costly methods, which will eventually hurt in the long run. I mean, it’s unbelievable what’s going on. Again, my vote is screw the rail. I think we just roll this right through downtown Dearborn, right down Main Street. All right. [00:08:13][29.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:08:14] I think so. I think this will be big fun. [00:08:16][2.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:08:16] We’ll be right back to the show, guys, but we got to quickly pay the bills here. Thank you for checking us out. Energynewsbeat.com. Stu and the team do a tremendous job making sure that website stays up to speed. Everything you need to know to be at the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy and the oil and gas business. Hit the links in the description below for all the timestamps, links to the articles. Subscribe to our Substack, theenergynews beat.substack.com, a great, great way to support the show. Subscribe to us on YouTube, subscribe to us on energynewsbeat. We also like to say shout out friends of the show, Reese Energy Consulting, guys, reeseenergyconsulting.com. They are you midstream experts. If you have any issues in the midstream space, call them. They’re a great resource. They have over a thousand years of experience. I’m not kidding with you on that. And they work with clients all throughout the value chain, whether you’re two people in a garage, all the way up to the largest publicly traded companies. So if you’re wondering if you are a fit for them, you are reeseenergyconsultin.com and finally, guys. It’s never too early to start thinking about your 2025 tax problem. It’s probably coming up on you. Invest in oil.energynewsbeat.com. Go there. We have a great markets portfolio survey where you can fill out and see if you qualify or even would be interested in investing in oil and gas. It’s a great way to lower your tax burden, diversify your portfolio a little bit and get some monthly dividends, guys. Invest in Oil.energyNewsBeat.com Check it out. And now back to the show. [00:09:33][76.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:33] Is China’s debt bomb about to explode? And what is the impact on global markets? Holy cow, Batman. In a stark admission during a September 25 press conference, China’s finance minister revealed that every penny we spend is borrowed, highlighting the precarious state of the nation. Michael, let’s go through some GDP debt ratios. Compared to other economies, is China’s debt to GDP ratio is about 312% in 2024. The U.S. Is currently 123% and Japan is 255%. Holy cow, Batman. The one is in trouble. China’s debt crisis isn’t new but in new data points’ dire picture by mid-2025, social financing and broad measure of credit in the economy, stood at 430 trillion won fueled by aggressive borrowing to stay growth. This is also including all of the bankruptcies that they’ve had. They’ve had a horrific real estate plummet at 8.5 in 2024, crippling over 70 different related industries. They are having a ruts-a-ruck in China, so to speak. [00:10:51][77.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:51] Yeah, it’s really interesting here. A lot of this debt, as you mentioned in the article, kind of roots back and traces back to their infrastructure boom that they have, the real estate speculation, a lot of the stimulus that they decided to do post-2008 financial crisis. You note an interesting fact in here. Local Chinese governments are barred from direct… So they can’t actually borrow money, which basically relies on these debt instruments that come from the government. Now the issue is, a lot of this debt is bad, so there’s this concept of, as you’ve noted here, extend and pretend strategy where this new debt that they get issued refinances the old debt. That’s right. Very interesting. [00:11:33][41.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:34] Only the big guy, only the main guys, can extend debt and pretend to be in control. [00:11:40][5.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:11:41] My question for you is, Stu, what does this mean in the war against the dollar? Because everybody was saying that the yuan is going to take over the dollar in the near future, but this article seems to point that eh, not so fast. [00:11:54][13.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:55] They are just as bad as the U.S. And Japan, the three biggest ones when you sit back and take a look. We’re three monkeys in a bathtub trying to scratch each other’s back. That’s the horrible part about this thing. All of us have fleas and we’re trying to pick the fleas off of us. This is not a good situation to be in. And I believe that if the United States can get rid of the Fed and go to a gold or silver standard and have actual everything go back to gold, we will heal as a global economy. [00:12:29][34.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:12:30] Yeah, it really is true. I find it fascinating that people are making this. And I think, again, what does this mean for the energy markets? This quote unquote, their push for clean energy over there in China isn’t really gonna help because if they’re gonna need debt to continue to do that, their net zero goals are gonna continue to be delayed. So anyone who’s thinking that China’s gonna become the leader in net zero, good luck. [00:12:55][24.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:12:55] No, they’re putting out two coal plants a month. And the only reason that they are not broke is because they printed all the money they can. Oil jumps as Trump pushes Europe to stop an all energy purchases. Michael, I have not laughed so hard. You have got to read our Substack article that I put out with Trump’s talking to the UN. You all, green energy is catastrophic and y’all are bad. You’re gonna die and you’re gonna be totally bankrupt if you go to green energy. That’s about as bad of a Trump impression as I can do. Green energy is crap. I mean, this is absolutely the most funny thing I have ever seen in my life. It was fantastic. When you go through, energy is in an era when the United States is now thriving like never before. AI is green and all bankrupt. Y’all are losers. I’m a winner. I think I just busted out laughing at the whole thing was absolutely hilarious. But the geopolitical fallout out of this is he basically said you all need to stop using Russian oil and gas. And currently they use 17 to 18% of the EU uses Russian natural gas right now. So he’s not gonna put extra sanctions on until they get to that point. But Michael, I did a crayon and that extra 17% will put Germany the EU. That extra 17% will bankrupt the EU. That is how close to bankruptcy they are. Can I make myself any clearer? They can’t get off Russian oil and Russian natural gas. [00:14:42][106.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:14:43] Well, they can’t because at the end of the day, people wanna have air conditioning. They wanna have their lights on. The more modernized you get as an economy, the more oil and gas and energy you need to spend. So I think it’s funny. I mean, selfishly, I think Trump is trying to prop up the LNG markets. I think he understands and is starting to get a sense of the drill baby drill is great. It’s gonna lower energy costs, but then you’ve gotta figure out a way to make your domestic energy business profitable because if it’s not profitable, you’re gonna keep going in this cycle of production drops. Oil prices then spike back up and you go in this cyclical circle and he wants low cost energy 24 seven, which is probably better off from the nuclear space. So I do find it interesting. I think again, not that this needs to be said, but I mean, a lot of what he’s talking about is US focused political gesturing in order to make sure that the industries that he wants to thrive thrive. And that’s of course what he wants do. It is, I think you are right in the fact that Europe’s not gonna get cut up or they’re not gonna stop buying Russian oil or Russian gas, they can. Because it’s just so close, it’s so cheap. We will never be able to compete economically with what Russia can service the war Europe to. So the real question is what sort of happens from here and how to maybe we sort of figure out to solve all that. [00:15:59][75.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:15:59] But what you’re missing is the Siberia two pipeline will be absorbing that 17% and taking it to Asia. And they have less than three years in order to get off Russian oil and gasoline period. And they are not gonna make it. It is not look good for the EU. Russia’s crude flow hits 16 month high on output, rising output and attacks. Russia’s seaborne crude exports have surged to their highest levels in a year driven by combinations of increased production and disruptions to domestic refining capacity from Ukrainian drone strikes. According to recent vessel tracking data, the four week average shipments. 3.62 million barrels per day in the ending September 21, the export surge. The bottom line is I think they’re at their max. They, I don’t see them, even though they’ve got a production increased in OPEC plus coming that they’re going to be able to do. I think that they are doing everything that they can and producing everything that can. So I don’t see any more coming. [00:17:06][67.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:17:07] Yeah, no, I don’t see it. I don’t necessarily see it either. You know, again, it’s clear. We’re just gonna say it again, sanctions don’t work. Cause clearly they keep flowing through. And I think partly why it’s Trump now saying, well, we just need to boycott them. Just boycott him. I mean, that’s all he’s got now at this point is just to say, let’s boycott. We know the sanctions don’t work. Just please don’t buy, please. [00:17:30][23.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:17:30] Well, and Trump is smart and here’s where he is getting played. I’m gonna say this before. I was gonna say to this later, but there’s two articles on Energy News Beat. One from Andrew Corbett Cho’s Coriobocos newsletter on Substack. And another one that I wrote, Trump just gave the green light for World War III. I didn’t write it. I just picked that up from somebody else. I am very saddened by Trump being played by Zelensky and President Trump. You’re a better man than Zelensky. Please stop listening to Zelenski. Stop listening to Lindsey Graham. They are not winning the war. Do your research. Listen to Lieutenant General Flynn. Thank you. Is he supposed to go on the podcast at some point? Yeah, he was. Thank you for bringing that painful moment up. This is the fourth time that he’s had to be canceled off again, and I appreciate that. [00:18:24][53.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:18:24] We’re waiting baited breath for that one. No, I do find it interesting that Trump comes out yesterday in what I thought was a great speech at the UN up until he decides to say, no, I think Ukraine can take all the territory back. What? I mean, that, you know, he, I mean it’s brutal. [00:18:40][16.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:41] No, Ukraine has, President Zelensky has been sold out and he has become a dictator. He’s canceled the elections. He is personally responsible for millions of people dying. President Zelansky, go away. [00:18:41][0.0][1099.5]