November 21, 2011 Topic: The quixotic search for energy solutions Another Don Quixote Thanksgiving. Every year at Thanksgiving 1 , we look in-depth at an issue that affects markets and portfolios. Last year, we examined the unraveling situation in Europe. Unfortunately, most concerns we expressed last year have been borne out, and are getting much worse (I spent the weekend reading legal documents on a Eurozone break-up, just in case). Like Don Quixote, Europe went on its journey for all the wrong reasons, adopting a half-pregnant monetary union to support a political objective that had arguably already been achieved by 1955 2 . This year, a look at something just as worrying in the long run as the fiscal problems of the West: the search for energy solutions. This journey has been fraught with