Quote:
Originally Posted by n0nsensical
I don't understand the point of this thread at all. Most commodity prices follow inflation with exceptions if the cost of production or demand changes suddenly. That is pretty much what the graph shows for oil. Demand is inelastic but the cost of production gradually decreases over time. The two spikes have obvious causes, the 79 oil crisis and the 08 financial bubble. You'll note that movie was produced shortly after the former. Now, as the graph needs to be updated to reflect, prices are almost back to where they were. One could expect the cost of production to INCREASE gradually in the future, but despite the protests of the peak oil crowd that still has yet to happen.
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The point of things for me is that government subsidies have kept gas prices artifically low since the 1970s (with the exceptions of the two spikes you noted). I support eliminating the tax breaks for big oil so market conditions for oil and gasoline can determine the true price. I believe that once a true market price is achived, green alternatives will become more economically viable. Only at that point can we kick our oil addiction.
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"All it takes to make a difference is the courage to stop proving 'I was right' in being unable to make a difference, to stop assigning cause for my inability to the circumstances outside myself, to be willing to have been that way, and to see that the fear of being a failure is a lot less important that the unique opportunity I have to make a difference."
-Werner Erhard
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