On April 16th, in nominal terms, the oil prices reached a new record of of $115.07 a barrel. We say in nominal terms, because by other measures oil is not so expensive as it seems. Although these high prices were unimaginable a few years ago, the demand for oil continues to rise in many countries.
Research compares past and present oil prices. About inflation, you can compare with two price indexes. If historic prices are inflated in line with America's producer-price index, the previous record (1980s) would be the equivalent of $94 in today's money. But if you take the consumer-price index than the oil price has to rise just to $118 to hit a new record.
Of course wages in Western Europe are also increased in the past years and in that way, we can conclude that oil isn't that much more expensive as a few years ago.
A member of Deutsche Bank, who did this survey, notices that if the spend of energy would be to the same level as in the 1980s (8% against 6,6% now - USA), the price of crude would be rise to $145!
Although almost everybody complains about the prices of oil these days, we can conclude that those high prices are just not more than normal. It's even positive to see that the spending on energy is going down. And this certainly will continue for the near future!
SOURCE
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It's true that many people complain about the high prices, but if we all work together, we can use alternatives. We can for example ride with our bike for short drives. Like that, we won't have to pay fuels, it's healthful to sport and to not cause bad gas emissons.
The fuel prices are high indeed, probably to high. But their are alternatives like Sams says: public transport, car pooling, bikes, go by foot ...
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