By Mark P. Mills Even with bombs falling in Iraq in December 1998, oil prices remained stubbornly low, staying as they have for months in the low teens and even dipping into single digits in the spot market. They may well be wishing still. The oil price collapse has been big news in the energy business for months and has seeped into the popular press because of its profound implications for the economy. But the media have yet to gush. There are two remarkable things about all the press coverage in recent months, one perhaps obvious, the other less so.
Cheap oil is self-evidently good for the economy.
Such is the nature of the debate. The second issue is a little more subtle, but it really shouldn't be. In case you hadn't realized, that mystery commodity is electricity. Yet I cannot recall a single instance of a news article comparing the relative economic importance of oil and electricity. More than half of those surveyed volunteer hydroelectric power as the largest source of electricity.