Dogbert offers an accurate description of “Fungible”, but he asserts
that increasing fuel economy (personal or national) has no effect on
the price of oil or the revenue of producers. This leads him to
conclude that it is pointless to conserve energy.
The Logic: Dogbert claims that lower consumption would lead to
lower prices, and this in turn would spur increased demand. No
argument so far...
But he concludes that the increased demand would either increase
prices or at least preserve oil profits by offsetting the downward
pressure of per capita consumption. His argument fails because, with
other factors normalized, the offset of increased demand based upon
a price reduction resulting from decreased consumption will
not cause an equal price increase. |