Search The Oil Drum with Google
Recently on TOD:World
TOD:Local
- Home Buyers Demand Short Commutes, Efficient Homes (with Backyards, Parking, lots of Square Feet)
- Streets: Utilitarian Corridors or Livable Public Space
- Summer Streets a Success!
TOD:Europe
- IEA WEO 2008 - Fossil Fuel Ultimates and CO2 Emissions Scenarios
- The IEA WEO 2008: Will coal usage be phased out?
- Oilwatch Monthly - November 2008
TOD:Canada
- The Round-Up: October 24, 2008
- Compressed Air Energy Storage - How viable is it?
- Oil Megaproject Update (July 2008)
TOD:ANZ
Blogroll
Energy Sites
- The Coming Global Oil Crisis
- Die Off
- Dry Dipstick
- Energy Bulletin
- From the Wilderness
- Life After the Oil Crash
- Peak Oil Crisis
- Peak Oil News and Message Boards
- Powerswitch
- Rigzone
- Matthew Simmons
- Wolf at the Door
Environment & Sustainability Sites
- The Daily Green
- EcoGeek
- Eco Street
- Green Car Congress
- Green Options
- green.alltop.com
- Gristmill
- RealClimate
- Sustainablog
- Treehugger
- WorldChanging
Blogs
- The Big Picture
- Casaubon's Book
- Cleantech Blog
- Clusterf
k Nation (Jim Kunstler) - The Cost of Energy
- David Strahan
- The Energy Blog
- Entropy Production
- European Tribune
- GraphOilology
- jeffvail.net
- Mobjectivist
- Peak Energy (Australia)
- Peak Energy (USA)
- R-Squared
- Resource Insights
Finance & Economics Blogs
- Calculated Risk
- Ecological Economics
- Econbrowser
- Environmental Economics
- Infectious Greed
- The Mess That Greenspan Made
- Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Organizations
“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…”
—Winston Churchill, November 1936
User login
Contact
- Content: editors at theoildrum dot com
- Tech support: support at theoildrum dot com
Personnel
- Editors: Prof. Goose, Heading Out, Stuart Staniford, Nate Hagens
- DrumBeat Editor: Leanan
- Contributors: ace, Engineer-Poet, Gail the Actuary, jeffvail, JoulesBurn, Khebab, Robert Rapier
- TOD:Local: Glenn
- TOD:Europe: Chris Vernon, Euan Mearns, Francois Cellier, Jerome a Paris, Luís de Sousa, Rembrandt, Rune Likvern, Ugo Bardi
- TOD:Canada: benk, Libelle
- TOD:ANZ: Big Gav, Phil Hart, aeldric
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
GAIA Host Collective
"They think $2 is about right."
Um, no, sorry, BZZZT! Try again. The price that the gasoline IS SELLING FOR RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT is what the collective market "thinks is about right."
Your price fantasies are utterly irrelevant. Have a nice day.
(Rant over now; thanks!)
In the article where is says "They think $2 is about right.", we are talking about the third situation.
What I take away from this article is that almost everywhere people think that gasoline should sell for something less than they are actually paying for it at the time. In the US $3.00/gallon seems exhorbitant because we are not used to it and we are used to a lifestyle that relies on 2.00/gallon gas. In the UK, people are used to paying much more, and their lifestyle is not as dependent on cheap gasoline. However, they would still like to have their gas cheaper.
Come to think of it, I feel that I should make $200/hr, because that "feels right." I work my ass off, why not?
I also feel that my apartment rental should be reduced to $50/month, because after all, $50/month "feels about right" to me, and I bet if I asked every apartment owner in my town, 100% of them would agree! Wow, make it so!
The way a market works is that there is ALWAYS a desire to pay less than something is selling for, so saying "We feel $2 is right" means nothing.
If instead you say "We budgeted $2/gal for gasoline," that is an entirely different statement, one we can discuss. I would say to that "Well, you better learn to budget with some flexibility!"
In contrast, if I budgeted $10/gal for gasoline, I could say "Hey, I'm doing pretty good, it's only $3/gal... look, I'm saving $7/gal!! I am brilliant!!!"
Either way, the reality is what the market price is, end of story. Everything else is just wasted bytes and hot air, much like my post right here. :)
Cheers!
Additionally, there is a lot of lack of information regarding the supplies of oil. If there were well by well production numbers for any country the US did business with, as well as independant analysis of reserves, that would greatly affect price. If it turns out that PO will be occuring before Yergin's 2020 (and especially if it's in the 2010 time frame) futures would shoot up, and that would affect the price today. Or alternately if it turns out that we are awash in oil, that could return us to $20/bbl oil.