by kublikhan » Fri 17 Feb 2012, 00:48:32
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('meemoe_uk', 'U')sing inflation adjusted figures is better than non adjusted. But it still falls way short of charting the true cost of oil. In the 70s oil crisis, people couldn't buy gasoline, not because the price was too high, but because there was no gasoline at the pump. A consumer had to barter and haggle with those that had it. So which is more expensive?
Also, the Purchasing Power Parity, a standard of assessing the true cost of a commodity, simply hasn't entered the lexicon on this forum.
In 1997, oil was $12 a barrel
In 2011, WTI Crude Oil is $86, and Brent Crude about $103. About a 9-fold increase in 14 years.
but
In 1970, oil was $1 a barrel
In 1979, oil was $37 a barrel. About a 37-fold increase in 9 years.
The 70s oil shock was measurably 6.4 times harder than today's so called oil crisis. Together with the fact that the peak oil is now hypers ignore PPP, and that me and everyone I know doesn't find gasoline prices to be crippling, strikes me that the true cost of oil today is much cheaper than before.
That's not what Pops chart shows. It shows the inflation adjusted price of gasoline in 1970 to be around $2.00 a gallon. Prices peaked in 1981 at around $3.31 a gallon. About a 1.7 fold increase. Then more recently gas prices bottomed out at around $1.50 a gallon. Then increased to $3.51 a gallon. A 2.3 fold increase. That means the oil shock is measurably harder today than it was in the 1970s.
The oil barrel is half-full.