U.S. prices decline 0.1 percent in April; why does that give me the shivers?

[ed_rex]

The CBC reports that the American consumer inflation rate went negative in April, "mainly due to a big fall in energy prices."

Now, you all know I'm a bicycle-loving lefty and environmentalist (you did know that, didn't you? Not just a fucking Doctor Who geek, thank you very much), so you might think I'd be cheering that news.

But see, just in case you've forgotten, there's a giant fucking oil-blow-out that has already spilled 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and shows no sign of letting up.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill may be getting caught in the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current, as shown here in a picture from NASA's Terra satellite on May 17, 2010. (NASA.)

Said oil now appears to be moving out of the Gulf and up the Eastern seaboard of North America via the loop current (no, I'd never heard of it until recently either), which the afore-linked Scientific American article says means the oil will end up travelling as far as the Arctic, and probably beyond.

That's just the oil that's spilled so far.

Point being, with this kind of disaster, and the concommittant likelihood that a lot of off-shore drilling is likely to be put on hold; with the industrialization of China and India (so far, or so we are told) continuing more or less apace; with here or nearly here, no matter what some denialists might have to say; and with a recovery from the near-collapse of the western world's banking system supposedly on the way, well ... should we be seeing some upward pressure on oil prices?

Hell, General Motors just reported its first profit in three years or so. Presumably people are buying cars again.

But energy prices are going down, not up.

Some recovery. Some economy.

I suppose I should be cheering this on as a sign of a nascent economic transition, but I fear it's more likely to be a sign of collapse, not change.

Thoughts?

Comments

[sooguy.livejournal.com]

It's topsy turvy isn't it?

Have you read/heard of Jeff Rubin's "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller - Oil and the End of Globalization"?

I've got the book on hold at the library. He has an interesting blog over here - http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/blog/

I really appreciated his blog post comparing the oil spill to the equivalent of Three Mile Island - not in scope of disaster, but in chill on off shore drilling future development.

http://www.jeffrubinssmallerworld.com/2010/05/05/what-are-the-consequences-of-another-three-mile-island/

Topsy turvy is one way to put it

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I've heard of the Rubin but I've not read the book itself. One of those things, in fact, that I've hear so much about there doesn't seem much point in reading the book itself; after all, it doesn't much matter whether peak oil arrived 5 years ago, is showing up as I type or will arrive five years from now.

Only a damned fool (and the U.S. Department of Energy) can possibly pretend it's not going to hit soon.

But thanks for link to his blog, I'll definitely check it out.

And meanwhile, I hope this blowout will serve as a Three Mile Island for future off-shore drilling. We (and by extension) the world at large would be far better served by reducing our oil use than by adding a few weeks or months to our supply at risk of such massive pollution.