In '05~'06 time frame, when we bought large order of big cable (miles at a time) we could only get price guarantee if we would pay for matching copper futures at the same time.
Yeah, I can start to a agree with you on that, if you include a market that isn't artificial/controlled by a few majors and OPEC.
I'm not sure if we'll ever see an actual free market with true competition and less regulation in our life times, but if we do, while there is going to be turmoil in the oil industry, it will be good for the economy.
In the mean time, those expensive technologies you complain about, are turning our dependence on foreign oil around and a single well can tap six square miles of oil bearing formation. Seems pretty cost affective to me!
In '05~'06 time frame, when we bought large order of big cable (miles at a time) we could only get price guarantee if we would pay for matching copper futures at the same time.