"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"RCE" wrote in message
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"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"Gorf" wrote in message
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"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"RCE" wrote in message
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Again, stolen from another NG, the following is a portion of an
article
published in the "Economist".

It seems to refute some of the Peak Oil doom and gloom arguments.

The hell with "the peak". How about just doing our part to lower
prices?
Or,
are Americans too friggin' busy, lazy or stupid to make the effort?



Just like the tech bubble, the real and the estate bubble. The price
of gas
is high right now because of speculators hoping to make money off of
it.
Because Bush has threatened Iran, and Iran has said that they would
block
the straight of Humus if attacked. Speculators on the commodity market
are
driving up the price. Add to this artificial shortages due to the
implementation of "ethanol based" fuel.
If the Iran issue blows over, prices will plummet.

Why don't you buy a small fuel efficient car?





Iran just said they intend to share their nuclear technology with Sudan.
This may not blow over.


Assume for a minute that political influences on the price of oil were
suddenly gone ... OPEC resumed setting reasonable oil prices and
everything is hunky-dorey with the world.

Then, assume everybody that drives a car in the world got a flash of
insight and traded in their current vehicles for replacements that got
twice the fuel mileage.

What would happen to the price of gas? Go up, down or stay the same?

I say it would double in price.

RCE

The missing variable is that if the price dropped, I suspect people might
drive more. There are certainly trips I'm not taking lately, simply
because of the price of the fuel.


Assume driving habits stay the same .....

RCE