05-20-2004, 11:36 AM
Quote:Why would OPEC brake apart if they can charge whatever they want? And how does that make the price come down afterwards?
Little econ lesson.
OPEC's driving the price of oil byproducts through the roof right? Obviously people are unhappy about it. We're all perfect examples of that. The people at OPEC know that we'll eventually either stop using their oil so much or switch to alternate fuels(hydrogen cells as G said) if they keep pressing us with the higher prices. I'm sure several of the slimy bastards are already thinking about breaking off from OPEC, starting their own oil jig with a lower price. They steal tons of the market share and our costs go down. OPEC's losing money, so another person breaks off to get his piece of the action before the price gets too low.
It's going to be a while before we can make a significant switch to hydrogen cells, and as much as I hate to say it there's oil in Alaska's wilderness. This is a similar situation to OPEC's past squeeze on the U.S. We need to start being a little more self-sufficient if just for the amount of time it'll take to switch to hybrids and cell cars. If you want to fuel your American Dream then you'll have to make some sacrifices. Land is one of them. There's an assload of wilderness in Alaska, you don't have to drill all of it, and you don't have to drill it forever.
If you're going to be an environmentalist about this then join me and we'll start destroying "civilization" ASAP. :P