The price of just about anything is mostly about supply and demand. This is Rule #1 of Economics 101 -- which they made me take, along with English, history and a few other useful things, in engineering school:
Demand goes up, supply doesn't: price goes up
Demand goes down, supply doesn't: price goes down
Supply goes up, demand doesn't: price goes down
Oil will bring whatever buyers are willing to pay and sellers are willing to take, and buyers are willing to pay very dearly these days. Nearly all economic activity runs on oil, and it is extremely difficult for any society to reduce its usage without cheap and plentiful alternatives.
Petroleum products are not just in transportation tanks; they are in almost all consumer products. Take off your jacket, check your watch, dial your phone, boot up your computer, plug in your iPod – these things and nearly everything else contain them as fundamental elements.
Most things consume oil as they are manufactured, and all things consume it as fuel in shipment to market. And so, as we have been learning all too painfully lately, as the price of oil goes up, the price of everything follows in the same direction. So, given that the price of oil depends mostly on supply and demand, what can we do to drag it back down? Reduce demand? Increase supply? Yes, and yes! Anyone who thinks we can make enough difference by working just one end of that equation is wishfully thinking.
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