The future of oil | Best New Ideas in Money

Oil has a big impact on just about everything, from the price of gas and the cost of your groceries, to the economy more broadly. Top oil analyst Helima Croft joins us for a look at the dynamics of today's oil market.

[donniemoder]

World demand for oil continues to grow along with number of barrels used. Alternative fuel use also is growing. It's a good investment.

[kevinmckay]

This was all about short term market prices. Can you interview Nate Hagens? Energy demand grows with GDP. The time, scale issues and limitations of renewables as an energy source will make any transition from carbon based energy sources difficult. Yet climate change demands a quick transition. At the same time oil reserves are not infinite - they have been wastefully depleted and can’t be replaced. Millions of years to create but they will be depleted in 250 years because the market sets the price only using the cost of extraction. So much of current agriculture production and many products essential for our current way of life can only be produced with oil. These planetary boundaries (climate change, peak oil, ecology) suggest we can’t and shouldn’t be trying to maintain GDP. But markets and political systems only focus on the short term. Be good for the MMT team to incorporate energy into their theory and long term energy planning and security into their discussions.