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| quote: | Originally posted by Orko
Our prices are artificially low compared to many parts of the world.
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I think I'll disagree with this one.
Do you know why the prices in Europe are so high? (and really, it's only Europe). Simply because people are prepared to pay that much (your supply/demand curve). In Yurop, the average person drives alot less. Hence, they can afford to pay more. In reality, they probably spend _the same_ amount of money on gas per week, as we do here, but buy a lesser amount of it. That follows from the "approximately" the same amount that people get paid there (at least in Western Europe).
In Eastern parts, gas is cheaper. But people _can't_ afford to drive as much. So it has to be cheaper for them (OPEC) to extract the same amount of cash per capita with relation to the salary and volume bought.
In North America, you, me, and everyone else is prepared to pay a buck, maybe a buck-10 for gas - simply because we buy more. However, when the going gets tough, people do start being conscious, and take transit and such. With that, the amount extracted per capita is still the same.
You see in either of these cases, the prices cannot fluctuate too much. Make it too expensive in North America, some people will take transit, and will telecommute and what have you. So the net profit is the same...
I dunno, this is the way it always made sense to me... Dunno if it sounds right to you.
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If I had to move to a deserted island, I would take only one CD with me: Cygnus X - Superstring! Yes, recorded 20 times in a row!
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