by copious.abundance » Thu 21 May 2009, 21:08:34
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Southpaw', 'O')ilfinder2 what are you trying to achieve? you skewed the data it's as simple as that. 0 baseline is the most logical thing to do. so your points on this topic are meaningless.
Southpaw I am going to quote myself for your reference. Please read carefully.
drbobguy tried to tell me my use of a common base for both production and the price was dishonest because if you use absolute scales for both the picture looks quite different. The inference was, if the price of oil has gone up by 300% (or whatever), why has not production also gone up by 300%?
What didn't occur to him was, there are very few economic goods where the ratio between price rises/declines and production is 1:1 (or anything close). I used the example of housing (repeated below) as an example. Price rises and declines way out of proportion to production rises and declines are the rule in economic goods, not the exception. He thought he was telling me oil was somehow extraordinary in its price/production dynamics, but he was wrong.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'H')ere's a perfect example of what I'm talking about - housing starts ("production") and median housing prices.
Here is a chart showing median housing values for certain localities in California, as well as the US. The line representing the US is at the bottom.

Notice the price went from somewhere around $20,000 in 1968 to about $250,000 in 2006.
Next, here is a chart showing US housing starts, also from 1968 to 2006. The chart is perishable so I'll give the link also:
LINKDuring the time housing prices rose roughly 12-fold, housing starts "plateaued" between about 750,000 and 2.5 million.
Even if we look at the same housing price chart, but this time adjusted for inflation, we still see a rise from about $25,000 in 1968 to about $42,000 in 2006. But did housing starts double over this time period? No.
