thanksforallthefish comments on Oil Prices Might Not Go Back to Normal Anytime Soon

[–] thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe 19 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Wellll...that's not quite how demand curves work, yes fuel use is inelastic in the short term but there will be substitution if it looks likely to stay high. Which is happening noticeably here in the UK. The numbers show an uptick in EV purchasing and a reduction in consumption of fossil fuels.

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[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Greedflation doesn't care about demand curve.

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[–] thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

Greedflation is just another way to state some very old economic concepts - inelastic demand and market power.

In other words if there is a supplier with little or no competition (monopsony) and a product that people will buy almost regardless of the price in the short term (inelastic demand) then yes the supplier can jack the price up while not losing sales...until people substitute alternatives.

This demand curve can be found in any high school economics text book from the middle of the 20th C it's nothing new.

And if monopsonists bleed the customers too hard they will find substitutes, even if the product is as basic to life as water or food. People will move countries if they're starving for example.

Smartarse quips aside you surely do understand basic economics right ?

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[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

No shit moron

The problem with the pseudo-intellectual economic theories is it falls flat on its face when faced with the real world, corruption, price fixing, imbalanced power dynamics, propaganda, etc etc.

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