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Originally Posted by Cybsled  Honestly I'd prefer that oil keeps getting more expensive, purely because the human race seems to do JACKSHIT until their asshole is on fire most times. |
This. High prices are the best motivator to get something else up and running. Where's the faith in the market? Not that it's all that surprising, I've recently seen a lot of free-market guys propose all sorts of government subsidies - whether it's for more drilling, nuclear power or pretty much anything else. The US gets $2-$3 per acre that oil companies lease... yeah, that's closely related to the trillions of dollars of oil reserves below it. Would a private party lease their land at that rate? No way. So why should the government not charge market rate?
The usual answer is that the government just HAS to help them, or there will be shortages! Of course in a free market, there are no shortages - shit just gets more expensive until supply and demand are in equilibrium again. As long as there's no Carter or Nixon (yes, he did it, too) to institute price controls, it'll be just fine.
But when it comes to getting your hands on some government handouts, nobody cares about market forces anymore.