Comments on: Doesn't Anybody Read History? (False alarms recycled from the 1970s)

By: The Right Opinion – August 8th | John R. Bolton

The Right Opinion – August 8th | John R. Bolton — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:17:47 +0000

[...] Doesn't Anybody Read History? (False alarms recycled from the 1970s) In “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon,” Marx commented that Hegel noted that history repeats itself, but neglected to mention that the first time was tragedy, and the second time farce. [...]

By: jorgekafkazar

jorgekafkazar — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:30:33 +0000

As a friend of mine said in 1973: “Oil shale is the wave of the future. And always will be.”

By: Dodgy Geezer

Dodgy Geezer — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:25:39 +0000

Can we mention Julian Simon and his Cornucopia theory here? It deserves to be more widely known….

By: Heikki Jokipii

Heikki Jokipii — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:59:00 +0000

In the 1970s as well as a couple of years ago the great economic ideal was “zero growth”. But then as well as now – what a great disappointment when this zero gowth became a reality.

By: mlynch

mlynch — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:56:55 +0000

Amazingly, lots of so-called experts don’t understand price elasticity of demand (or supply elasticity, which is more complicated). In the 1970s, when demand didn’t respond very quickly, even many economists argued that it wasn’t slow but largely non-existent. Thus, engineers like Amory Lovins managed to gain some credence by pointing to the potential for savings (without considering the economics, then or now).
Mike

By: Donkatsu

Donkatsu — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:57:11 +0000

Mike,
How about “The thing that policymakers do not understand: Then – price elasticity of demand; Now – price elasticity of demand

By: Ed Reid

Ed Reid — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:24:45 +0000

I have faith that, before we all “freeze in the dark”, someone will figure out how to “draw and quarter” an NGO.

We need to find someone to perform an “ex-Gore-cism”.

By: Donkatsu

Donkatsu — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:04:29 +0000

Michael, Rob,
Speaking of running out of oil, can we put up a market proposition on the the way oil and gas production will be sabotaged by the new Administration? My thesis is that they are too smart to roll back the offshore oil permissions. Instead, the allied NGOs will make it impossible to obtain drilling permits. Presto, problem solved. Would thinking like this also lie behind the recent strength in crude prices?

By: mlynch

mlynch — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:04:54 +0000

Forgive my parsimoniousness. (I think that’s a word.) Hotelling’s original work was misinterpreted by many, and he should not be faulted. It was the false ‘Hotelling Valuation Principle’, cited by many as ‘proving’ that mineral prices had to rise exponentially and oil prices at the rate of interest, to which I was referring.

By: Rob Bradley

Rob Bradley — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:46:45 +0000

Hotelling deserves his criticism if only because he framed his 1931 work in terms of the real world debate over oil conservation. If he had stated instead that his theory had false assumptions for the real world and therefore should be used with caution to real mineral situations, I would agree with Donkatsu’s statement.