The great oil crash of 2010
But only the calm before the storm?Speculation. Is it a dirty word? Should the entire future's market be shut down? Should their be higher margins and position limits on oil trading? The government might soon decide these questions, at least as far as the energy markets are concerned.
Yet, regardless of any government action, oil and gasoline prices are almost assuredly heading downward. Oil supplies are ridiculously high, gasoline inventories keep rising, and the world economy simply is not recovering. And, despite the fact that gas prices are far less than last summer, Americans are driving less. One way or another, the air has to come out of this bubble.
But is that really a good thing? Won't a few years of cheaper gas simply result in more complacency regarding the dangers of foreign oil dependency and in the stagnation of alternative energy development? Ultimately, isn't cheap foreign oil, like cheap cigarettes, bad for America?
Labels: Foreign Oil Dependency, gas prices
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:05 AM
6 Comments:
I concur. We should leave the fossil fuel world for ecological and/or geopolitical reasons. Economics is not a good enough rational and indeed the price of fossil fuels could collapse due to over speculation and new technology.
I do fear we will once again become complacent.
Sadly, while foreign oil dependency is on our radar in America, in terms of real action leading to real results, not much is happening.
I'd argue we're still far too complacent today, and it seems it'll only get far worse if fuel prices decrease.
I agree with the above comments and I also fear complacency hampering alternative fuel efforts. That being said however, I also believe there will always be groups of people interested in creating alternative fuel/energy. As the new generation grows we can only hope that no matter the price at the pump they will have a clear understanding of the impacts burning fuels and consuming commodities has on us all.
That's true Chris, and that group that cares is growing. Nonetheless, that group represents a tiny fraction of Americans.
All of you assume that driver of new technology is USA. In the next decade it's going to be Asia, in particular India and China who will come up with environmentally benign technology, US Gov put pressure on them in the interest of keeping status-quo which benefits the US based MNCs.
It'll probably come from Asia. I wouldn't write off American innovation just yet. Still, I have to make a wager.....
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