Monday, May 08, 2006

Stop Yer Whinin'

One of the points Matt Simmons has made a number of times: In terms of $ per gallon, gasoline and oil are some of the cheapest fluids out there. As an example, the costs of various commodities, expressed in barrels-equivalent:

Oil: $69.35
Natural Gas: $39.44
Ethanol: $113.40
Gasoline: $125.42
Milk: $192.50
Coca-Cola: $447.21

Gasoline is 2/3 the cost of milk, and less than 30% the cost of Coca-cola. So where's the screaming about windfall profits there? Milk is at least good for you.
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3 comments:

Robert McClelland said...

While these types of comparisons are silly and meaningless, the difference is that the milk industry isn't raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in profit.

May 08, 2006 8:24 PM
john said...

No, the difference is that there's plenty of surplus milk on the market.

That's WHY the dairy industry isn't raking in profits. Indeed, that's why they need price supports.

If we used milk as profligately as we use gasoline, we'd be bitching about windfall dairy profits too.

May 08, 2006 8:31 PM
Hishighness said...

Asshole probably drives a hybrid car or is a Conservative and has stock in Enron.

May 08, 2006 11:11 PM

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