Soaring Oil Prices: Whom Should We Blame? Globalization? China? India? The U.S.? US?
Written by เมื่อลมแรง...ใบไม้ก็ร่วง
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Increased demand for oil in India and China is so large they have created a worrisome climate among the world's energy producers Above is the opening sentence of a news article on The Financial Express titled India, China oil demand 'frightening': Aramco, published last year. The next two paragraphs of the same article read:
All oil producing nations will have to chip in to meet the needs if demand in those two countries continues to rise, said Snobar [President and CEO of Aramco Services Co., which delivers Saudi oil to the United States], adding, "Let's hope they don't sustain this growth.
Whether or not they have chipped in Im not sure, but what I can say with absolute certainty is that the increasing demand for oil of the two countries has been sustained, or in fact, gone beyond predictions. And its the phenomenon called globalization to which some people attributes the growth of their demand.
Dae Jang-Guem
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For Thais, globalization is what brings to our homes, among other things, the famous Korean series Dae Jang-Guem, the frills and gadgets (such as iPods and blackberries), the most-trusted-name-in-news(?) CNN, and Oishi; and to our country the burgeoning foreign-restaurant business and foreign language schools. (I heard on Greenwave today that TAT is now in search of guides conversant of the Korean language and culture, as it has anticipated a high number of Korean tourists in the coming year.) For the Indian and the American, the phenomenon also enables Bollywood movies to travel and land successfully in Hollywood, and vice versa. (Perhaps, globalization is what holds accountable for Tata Youngs go[ing] inter too!) In other words, the flow of technologies, knowledge, information, cultures, and commodities we are witnessing today are the results of the globalization phenomenon.
But what does this phenomenon have to do with the soaring gas prices? Well, for some people, it is culpable for it. At least Daniel Gross of Slate.com says so. Due to todays boundless world, while
[
]American companies gain access to cheap labor in the developing world,
.People living in those places [in return] gain access to the infrastructure and products and services that [Americans] take for grantedlike McDonald's or Chevrolets. As the demand for these products, especially that for cars in this case, grow, so does the demand for energy to manufacture and run them:
Such growth is boosting demand (and prices) for steel, as well for rubber and other car components. But it's also boosting demand for gasand raising concerns about the world's oil supplies. As Shai Oster noted in the Wall Street Journal, China is already the "second-biggest oil consumer after the U.S.," gulping about 7 million barrels per day. (The United States uses about 21 million barrels per day.) This forecast from the Energy Information Administration suggests that Chinese oil consumption will double in a dozen years.
In other words, the rise of a massive consuming class in China and, to a lesser degree, India, is making gas more expensive for everyone. A look at the most recent CPI report reveals that inflation is concentrated in energy. But when energy costs remain elevated for long periods of time, the higher costs start to spill over into other sectors. Based on the demand-supply theory, its no wonder why the gas prices are climbing at a shocking rate.
But, is globalization the only malefactor to be blamed for the skyrocketing gas prices? Or, shall we just hurl all the blames at China (and India) for taking too much interest in American products and services and thus gulping too much oil? (Well, if so, shouldnt we be blamed, too?) Perhaps, we could easily charge the U.S. with inventing McDonalds, Chevrolets, and other products that we all are vying for, right? Sure, damn the U.S. (again).
Globalization, China, India, and the U.S. are lining up now, ready for us to point the finger at. But seriously, have we looked at ourselves, or more accurately, our consuming behaviors and really demand the answer to the question, to what degree we, as an ordinary person and a citizen of our world (not as a politician or a policy maker of a particular country), should hold accountable for the soaring gas prices?
Think hard.
4/27/06
(c) 2006. เมื่อลมแรง...ใบไม้ก็ร่วง. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced, by any process of technique, without the express written consent of the author (in.dialogue@yahoo.com).
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ผู้ติดตามบล็อก : 1 คน [
It may be because of globalization.
This is just my opinion. Thank you for a good article.