Originally Posted by
iahflyr
That is about the best explanation I have heard about oil prices. It makes sense to all the simple minded people who don't understand that oil is a limited commodity and will one day run out. It is required, not discretionary. Therefore, the price will always go up long term.
Limited yes, but artificially so. Constraints put upon by politics limiting supply, speculative as we saw this summer by money managers perceiving greater value in oil trades vs stock market and other financial instruments. As it eventually runs out (not in our lifetime) science and necessity will find a replacement but not until then, certainly a manhattan project crash program won't do it.