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Apr. 14th, 2006
Dilbert and oil
Apr. 14th, 2006 11:34 amSweet. Hybrid Vespas... Not sure why, they get pretty good gas economy as it is.. but I appreciate the effort.
http://www.retrothing.com/2006/04/introducing_two.html
Actually, that reminds me of something I've been wanting to bring up for some time. This Dilbert, ran on Feb 19th. It is a pretty big chunk of right-wing agitprop, and it kind of hit me out of left field to see it on Dilbert.
Now, maybe Adams knows this, that's why the admittedly evil Dogbert is the prime mover here, but there are several problems with this comic.
First, the number of consumers buying hybrids as their patriotic duty is probably very low. Adams is most likely reacting to a UC Davis study where researchers interviewed Hybrid owners about their cars, and found that most bought the car to "Make a statement." Buried in that were three concerns, 1) American dependence on oil, 2) concern for the environment, and 3) some of the interviewees made statements about "Not sending money to the middle east." [1] While Dilbert's "Statement" may be silly, the other two statements referenced in the study are quite valid, and good reasons to stop using so much oil.
The real crux of the comic is the sixth panel, where Dogbert speaks of oil as being a fungible commodity, which may be true in the world of the stock market, but in a literal sense, it is deceptive. For most purposes, fungible means "easily replaceable." It is not oil that is fungible, but the consumers of oil. If we take that view, then Dogbert is right, there are third world nations lined up to purchase any oil that we do not, but reductions in gasoline consumption in the United States could do something about the US using 40% of ALL the oil used in the world.[2]
The second issue in panel six is that oil is somehow tied to the "capitalist system" ie: a "free market." This is absolutely incorrect. Oil is controlled quite literally, by a cartel, a group of producers who collude on production and pricing levels. Now, it may be a bad idea for OPEC to hijack oil prices and production levels, but they regularly do so, so although you are buying the oil as cheaply as you can, it is not being offered to you as cheaply as it could be. How can you do something about that? There is only one way, decrease demand.
Now you may think, "Hey, Steffan, it's only a comic! Lighten up!" But I don't like it when a comic skillfully manipulates the situation in order to give uninformed critics a reason to make fun of people who are trying to be supportive of alternative energy policies. The simple fact is, if people buy hybrids, the auto makers will make more and better ones, and oil consumption among the residential users within the United States (about 16% of all the oil consumed in the world,) will go down. We could set an example. Then we could use some of that money to work on helping those fungible consumers of oil in the third world.
[1] http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/109421/article.html
[2] http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/energy/stats_ctry/Stat1.html#ConsumptionUvsW (Be suspicious of these numbers, they were produced by British Petroleum.)
http://www.retrothing.com/2006/04/introducing_two.html
Actually, that reminds me of something I've been wanting to bring up for some time. This Dilbert, ran on Feb 19th. It is a pretty big chunk of right-wing agitprop, and it kind of hit me out of left field to see it on Dilbert.
Now, maybe Adams knows this, that's why the admittedly evil Dogbert is the prime mover here, but there are several problems with this comic.
First, the number of consumers buying hybrids as their patriotic duty is probably very low. Adams is most likely reacting to a UC Davis study where researchers interviewed Hybrid owners about their cars, and found that most bought the car to "Make a statement." Buried in that were three concerns, 1) American dependence on oil, 2) concern for the environment, and 3) some of the interviewees made statements about "Not sending money to the middle east." [1] While Dilbert's "Statement" may be silly, the other two statements referenced in the study are quite valid, and good reasons to stop using so much oil.
The real crux of the comic is the sixth panel, where Dogbert speaks of oil as being a fungible commodity, which may be true in the world of the stock market, but in a literal sense, it is deceptive. For most purposes, fungible means "easily replaceable." It is not oil that is fungible, but the consumers of oil. If we take that view, then Dogbert is right, there are third world nations lined up to purchase any oil that we do not, but reductions in gasoline consumption in the United States could do something about the US using 40% of ALL the oil used in the world.[2]
The second issue in panel six is that oil is somehow tied to the "capitalist system" ie: a "free market." This is absolutely incorrect. Oil is controlled quite literally, by a cartel, a group of producers who collude on production and pricing levels. Now, it may be a bad idea for OPEC to hijack oil prices and production levels, but they regularly do so, so although you are buying the oil as cheaply as you can, it is not being offered to you as cheaply as it could be. How can you do something about that? There is only one way, decrease demand.
Now you may think, "Hey, Steffan, it's only a comic! Lighten up!" But I don't like it when a comic skillfully manipulates the situation in order to give uninformed critics a reason to make fun of people who are trying to be supportive of alternative energy policies. The simple fact is, if people buy hybrids, the auto makers will make more and better ones, and oil consumption among the residential users within the United States (about 16% of all the oil consumed in the world,) will go down. We could set an example. Then we could use some of that money to work on helping those fungible consumers of oil in the third world.
[1] http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/109421/article.html
[2] http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/energy/stats_ctry/Stat1.html#ConsumptionUvsW (Be suspicious of these numbers, they were produced by British Petroleum.)