The price of oil has touched the USD 140/barrel mark and what is next in store for us? Do you think that speculators are up to their tricks again? I guess most of the countries which had subsidised petrol has decided not to do so and this definetly has a spiralling effect on the cost of consumer goods which in turn has brought inflation to an all time high in most of the countries. Strikes and agitations are organised everywhere instead of focussing their energy on other important issues (not to say that this is not an issue).
Maybe this effect is irreversible but what does it mean for ordinary citizens like you and me? Can we really make ends meet now or tomorrow? We know for a fact that developing economies from China and India are consuming a lot of oil but wasn't this anticipated by the major oil producing nations as this didn't happen overnight.
Why can't we be prudent in our requirements for oil? With the increase in oil prices, even electricity goes up and I believe that we should look into other means of generating electricity, maybe nuclear, wind etc.
I saw on TV today Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, pleading with the public to conserve or save on oil, electricity, water and to stop wastage per se (in otherwords improve on efficiency). I think this is the right step to take and once there is less demand on oil, maybe the oil prices would stabilize or come down. But then again I believe, whatever the prices of essential commodities that has gone up would take a longer period to come down as profiteers would like to cream the situation.
I believe the Opec nations have told that there is no shortage of oil, and if that is the case, then there must an invisible hand behind all this, causing chaos and I am sure some of the Governments that are going in for election are going to lose due to a phenomenon which is not of their making.
Does the weakening of the US Dollar has an impact on all this? If so why can't trading be done with Euro dollars?
Do you think that the rising of the oil prices is really a blessing in disguise for us so that we can look at the other renewable sources of energy? What we know for sure is that one day oil would deplete and we have to wake up to that reality sooner then later.
Do let me know about your views on this matter and what are your suggestions in improving this grim situation.
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