13 videos you need to see about economics.

[The Whit]

Starting with this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6rwplDNq1I

[caseagainstfaith]

I'm actually watching.  I'm generally a liberal. He is obviously a conservative.  But, the videos seem worth watching.  Each is very short.

[SGOS]

He acts like he knows he's right, but that by itself doesn't mean his analysis is correct.  Having said that, I agree with a lot of his points, but I won't swallow any of them whole.  

The Middle East has always been unstable, and it's more unstable today than I can ever remember.  I tend to agree with him.  Yeah, gas prices are up from 2 years ago, but they are  still 25% lower than they were 6 years ago (at least where I live).  The government keeps pointing to Mid East instability, but really, it doesn't seem to change how we live.  If the Mid East still keeps squabbling and fighting, whoever is in charge is going to keep selling oil to the rest of the world.  If bin Laden were in charge, he'd being doing it too.  It's in no Mid East leader's best interest not to sell oil and not to be a billionaire.

As far as oil company greed, of course they are greedy.  Maybe they don't have as big a markup as mom and pop, but a company that big doesn't need a bigger markup than mom and pop.  That's why places like Walmart drive mom and pop into bankruptcy and get rich while doing it, but that's not to say oil companies are not getting rich beyond the dreams of avarice or not pricing oil as high as they can to maximize their profits.

Of course inflation drives up the price of oil.  Well, thank you Captain Obvious!  But I think it's disingenuous to say that's all that is happening, or to imply that supply and demand don't have anything to do with the price of oil.  Or that greed and instability aren't factors.  Don't forget, the other side of the coin of capitalism is to make as much money as fast as you can, and don't think the oil companies aren't playing that game.

[stromboli]

I agree for the most part, because some of this information I already had. I have seen some information on dire circumstances in the future for the American dollar- due to "fiat money" printed with the dollar as the base, versus the gold standard of 40 years ago. The US dollar is the hold-fast for world currency. Hyperinflation has happened at least once before (Germany after WW1) because of fiat money. The information I saw showed that Gold has been purposely suppressed in order to downplay it as a potential monetary standard, allowing the banks to essentially print money (thanks to Bernanke, etc.) via the US government, and the wild and reckless investing that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

That information also came from conservative sources. Will study the rest of the videos.

And I agree with SGOS. There is more happening than just inflation. Supposedly, new oil sources have been located- in Australia, I believe, that would theoretically end any potential oil shortage (there is not presently an oil shortage). Maybe a combination of things, but I'm sure speculation plays a part.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Except inflation has been very low over the past 20 years and we're not going back to the gold standard nor should we. $5 per gallon of gas is pretty low compared to most of the developed world.

[Plu]

$5 per gallon of gas is pretty low compared to most of the developed world.

True that. Oil prices in the netherlands are almost double that.

[Colanth]

$5 per gallon of gas is pretty low compared to most of the developed world.

It's also low compared to historic levels.  Back in the 20s, when income was about $5/week, gas was about $0.15/gallon before tax.  That meant that the average person earned about 33 gallons of gas a week.  Today, with income at about $575/week, $5/gallon gas means that the average person earns over 100 gallons of gas a week.  (And I'm being conservative at both ends, like not including tax for the old price.)  Gas today is cheaper than it was when the oil companies owned the wells.

[The Whit]

I'm actually watching.  I'm generally a liberal. He is obviously a conservative.  But, the videos seem worth watching.  Each is very short.

That's because he first video was 6 minutes and the average view duration was only 3.

And I agree with SGOS. There is more happening than just inflation. Supposedly, new oil sources have been located- in Australia, I believe, that would theoretically end any potential oil shortage (there is not presently an oil shortage). Maybe a combination of things, but I'm sure speculation plays a part.

We'll always have an oil shortage because this planet only has so much oil.  

As far as oil company greed, of course they are greedy.  Maybe they don't have as big a markup as mom and pop, but a company that big doesn't need a bigger markup than mom and pop.  That's why places like Walmart drive mom and pop into bankruptcy and get rich while doing it, but that's not to say oil companies are not getting rich beyond the dreams of avarice or not pricing oil as high as they can to maximize their profits.

Walmart can afford to do that because they got 1.2 billion in tax breaks and other subsidies from the government.  Mom and pop stores don't.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/news/fo ... subsidies/

That a company with $9 billion in profits can wrest job subsidies from state and local governments shows that the candy store game has gotten out of control