[canis_lupus]

This drives me mad - Bloomberg
From Bloomberg .com $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')``A barrel of Starbucks latte would cost you $1500, compared to a barrel of crude, even at $66 a barrel,'' Dell said. ``What's interesting about that is not so much that coffee costs more than oil, but the fact that you could drive to Boston and back from New York and if you had three or four people in the car and they decided not to have a coffee it would offset the entire gasoline increase from $2 gasoline to $3 gasoline.''

[gnm]

Yes this from the same people who are claiming that the latest run up is because of a realtively harmless storm... I wonder who's paying them?

Its just more "go back to sleep everything is fine" crap for the masses...

-G

[dukey]

its totally pointless / irrelivant comparing the price of coffee to petrol ..

simply because we only buy small quantaties of coffee. So for a few dollars it doesn't matter .. even if it is a rip off.

But petrol we buy gallons and gallons of it so small increases in the price can make a large different to the overall cost at the end of the day.

[Jaymax]

Oooh, maybe I'll short some Starbucks on the single-stock-futures market... They're obviously gonna sacrificially collapse to keep America driving

There is a point to what Bloomberg are saying tho - energy used to be something like 15% of US consumer spend, now it's something like 5%.

Oil prices can go up a long way before the economic effects go beyond consumers merely rebalancing there expenditure. Thing is, they will, and further, and soon.

--J

[BabyPeanut]

I guess you'd hate to hear Matt Simmons say "$60/barrel is 18 cents a pint" then.

I do too because we are forced to use way too much gasoline in the US in order to live. You should see the road systems how overblown they are. Even with an economy car you still go through a hell of a lot more gasoline than you could coffee or nyquil or whatever high-priced liquid.

Also in the 19th century when "rock oil" was used to make kerosene for lamps the price was super-high but the quantities used were very small. Makes a big difference.

[dukey]

airlines are going to be hit so hard ..

GM and Ford with their SUVs too

at the current rate of oil price increases .. i cant see airlines lasting out 3 more years.

[aflurry]

Nice find.

So, oil's not so expensive after all... if ya think about it.

Turn that frown upside down.

[seldom_seen]

He'd have a point if the entire economy wasn't predicated on cheap oil. No, not expensive oil, but cheap oil.

[aflurry]

... i was just thinking... after peak oil, a Starbucks Latte will prbably run about $15.00 anyway with all of the skyrocketing production and transportation costs, making oil seem even cheaper in comparison! Wow, there really is nothing to worry about.

[jmacdaddio]

The key difference beween coffee and oil is that our entire economy is built on the assumption that cheap fuel is readily available, while coffee is only important for coffee drinkers who need a supply to get their day started and keep going throughout the day .... hmmm ..... wait a minute .... good thing we're not approaching Peak Coffee, right?

I could adjust to biking around and taking public transport but coffee withdrawal would be traumatic.

[twofiftyfive]

Maybe we can convince the author to drink crude oil instead of coffee.

[Laurasia]

Thank you guys for your funny observations which made me laugh out loud, and I needed a good laugh!

Regards,

L.

[MJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jmacdaddio', 'T')he key difference beween coffee and oil is that our entire economy is built on the assumption that cheap fuel is readily available, while coffee is only important for coffee drinkers who need a supply to get their day started and keep going throughout the day .... hmmm ..... wait a minute .... good thing we're not approaching Peak Coffee, right?

[jackal42]

You can't compare the end product (latee), to the unrefined commodity of Crude oil.

[cammo2004]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MJ', '
')Did you say Peak Coffee?? Aaaargh (crumbles to the ground in agony....) can't live without the black gold (w sugar that is)

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MJ', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jmacdaddio', 'T')he key difference beween coffee and oil is that our entire economy is built on the assumption that cheap fuel is readily available, while coffee is only important for coffee drinkers who need a supply to get their day started and keep going throughout the day .... hmmm ..... wait a minute .... good thing we're not approaching Peak Coffee, right?

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BabyPeanut', 'I') guess you'd hate to hear Matt Simmons say "$60/barrel is 18 cents a pint" then.

[rockdoc123]

I wonder if everyone is not misunderstanding the point of the Bloomberg argument. I think it has less to do with saying "coffee should be compared to oil" as it has to do with speaking to why there perhaps is inelastic demand. Everywhere on this board and in the newspapers folks are saying....these high prices are putting us in a recession....they are destroying demand. Well the weekly figures don't show that....in the last two weeks gasoline stocks have fallen way beyond expectation of the market....you cannot blame that on refineries..if it was simply a refinery problem I think you would see distillates fall back or at least build at a lesser than anticipated rate. So the fact that people are willing to spend so much money on stuff like lattes, things they can easily do without means that unlike in the seventies where family budgets absolutely did not include frivilous things (and coffee was like 40 cents a cup as I remember) means they have more very disposable income....hence the willingness to deal with higher prices moreso than in the past. Damn prices at the pump are up again this week....oh what the hell I don't need that stupid Starbucks trash anyway...I'll just get a cup o' joe from the coffee cart at work....or maybe I'll just forgo that Romeo y Juliet $5.00 cigar tonight.

A quick calculation...if you have a middle of the road fuel efficient car and commute 10 miles to work then my guess would be you'd probably use 4 litres of fuel. Although for most of us 8 pints of coffee/day seems excessive I know at least a few folks who consume that amount several times a week.

[o2ny]

Good point time to dump your Starbucks stock or any other 'luxury' items people will soon be cutting back on.