Monday, October 26, 2009

Peak ignorance

Via the Economic Way of Thinking blog I came across this graph:


Let's think about this for a moment. As of now, oil is bought and sold on the world market, and demand for it is at least somewhat elastic (it's not the only possible source of energy). So how can demand possibly exceed supply, as the graph shows will inevitably happen? As far as I know, this can only be the case if someone can manage to keep oil prices below the market-clearing rate. Is that the prediction here, that by 2010 there will emerge an entity powerful enough to enact price controls in the world oil market? Or is it just that the Peak Oil advocates don't really know what they're talking about?

Added: Michael Munger is less kind, calling it Peak Idiocy.

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