by arretium » Sat 07 Jun 2008, 02:12:32
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'W')hat you and many others have said, simply put, is that if the price of oil rises, then is must fall later. Then it would also be logical to say if the price of oil falls, the price will rise later as demand is increased.
Ok, I agree with the cycle theory. Yes we are going to have up and down cycles. That doesn't explain why there will be a bust. Why is there any more chance of a bust than rapidly soaring prices?
Because at some point those rapidly soaring prices will kill their own market.
Do you really think Americans would consume as much oil as they do now if gas was $8/gallon? And would European consume as much oil as they do now if it was $15-$20/gallon there? Of course they wouldn't.
Right now, with gas at around $4/gallon in the US, you're already starting to see
some demand destruction. People cannot go on purchasing oil at whatever infinitely high price the market asks. That being the case, at
some point the price can go so high, for one reason or another demand will plumment . . . and so will the price.
There's a couple of problems here, to make sure we're talking apples and apples.
We don't know the elasticity of oil demand. We see some declining demand, but we don't know at what point serious demand destruction begins. It is at this unknown price where your logic supports your position. Once the price is reached, demand destruction kicks in which supports a reduction in price but this also assumes that the supply of the product is static doesn't. When we factor in a declining supply, demand destruction's price reduction tendency is negated by the declining availability of the product which acts as a price support mechanism.
But at what price does this demand destruction kick in to destroy oil nelasticity? What do we go back to? We only saw a 4% decline here in the U.S. at $ 4 gas. Do we go back to $4 gas from $ 8 gas? Does it go to $6? All the way back to $ 1.50/gallon?
What's your response to the criticism that peak oil's declining production negates demand destruction price reduction tendancies?
And then once we get through this issue, how do we account for inflation? Commodity ("raw material") price increases? Increases in the money supply itself? (perhaps you prescribe to the inflation is due m3 increases).
How do we compare $4 gas in 2012 to $ 4 gas in 2008? If you say, use the CPI index, surely you must be joking? That index lacks credibility. On the other hand, I would think that discounting CPI would tend to support your position....
I'm curious what your thoughts are...