By this logic, every existing company should be investing all their profits in energy research, and because they aren't, they must be up to no good. After all, it's worth 100s of trillions more (which is a completely arbitrary number, might I add) than one of the most currently lucrative industries in America.A revolutionary breakthough would be worth 100s of trillions more than oil could ever produce.
You seem to fail to grasp the concept of supply, demand and market equilibrium. As I've stated before, the oil companies cannot simply lower their price back down to $30 a barrel, nor are they capable of artificially raising the price up to $100. In a competitive market, that's impossible, for reasons I've already outline.However what was thier profit per second when oil was $30 bbl.
You contradict yourself. Either American agriculture is efficient, in which case it shouldn't need subsidies, or it's inefficient, and it does need subsidies. So really, the above quote is an argument against subsidies. If they really are the image of efficiency, then lift the tariffs, subsidies, and price controls that have been babying them, and let them compete on the world market.American farming is extremely efficient.
Other governments do it, so we should do it? Also, you seem to be admitting that American agriculture is inefficient by saying that we need regulation to keep farmers in business, otherwise we'd become dependent.Nearly all governments provide similar assistance for local farmers to prevent dependency of basic staples on foreign countries.
I fail to see how price supports or how keeping clearly inefficient farms in business can reduce the price. Also, how exactly do subsidies and tariffs prevent swings in price? You could argue artificial price floors keep prices constant, but only because they're raised so high above equilibrium. So yes, if you keep the price high enough, they won't be affected by market pressures, but the upshot is that it's still more expensive, meaning they still hurt consumers more than if they simply fluctuated at a lower cost.The government price supports and assistance helps to maintain the agriculture in the states.[...]The government price controls work to reduce the big swings in commodity prices and many programs have the long term effect of keeping prices low by keeping farms in business.
EDIT: mrfocus posted while I was posting. I'll respond later, but now I need to go to class. Econ midterm... oh boy...