Posted on 05/30/2004 7:45:04 AM PDT by TC Rider
The thread is about using bogus complaints about oil prices in order to talk down the economy and win political points. In a free market wages and prices change. If they have to change, it's better if wages and prices to increase over time and not decrease. That means if inflation is 2.5 percent, the price of gas will double in 30 years.
In 2034, gas will be $4.00 per gallon, and in 5 billion years the sun will explode and we'll all be dead. Have a nice day.
Oil prices are a part of the economy, a small part. I've seen my own 15 mile commute increase in cost about $10.00/week. I realize for those at the very bottom, this could be a strain, but they should consider public transport, car-pooling, and other alternatives. I see cars, trucks and vans full of mexicans doing this everyday. They have the right idea.
Let's dump some of the BS restrictions, regulations, etc and let the free market take over. If ANWR and coastal drilling sites were opened, OPEC would be tripping all over themselves to lower prices. In the past, the mere threat of US domestic production increasing has been enough to prompt OPEC to open the taps.
If the EPA just got rid of the current boutique formulations for gas we'd see prices go down.
The current oil 'crisis' is a joke compared to the shortages in the '70s.
The point of the thread is the N&O making a mountain out of a molehill over gas prices. No one is going hungry, homeless, etc because of the current price per gallon.
LOL!
For somebody who claims to understand market economics, it is ironic that you'd base your prediction on a superficially favorable assumption of inflation rate.
More informed projections would at least intelligently examine the current growth rate of global demand and the growing scarcity of easily accessible global supplies.
Nobody knows for certain when we may be paying $4.00 per gallon gas.
But it's likely closer to 3 years from now than 30.
Good point. I missed that too.
Try Europe, it is $6.00 and rising.
But seriously folks, you had a point though about the impact of gas prices. In other words, it doesn't matter if gas prices double because they will. Like you say, what matters is the impact.
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