Friday, November 2, 2007

Oil and Bing Crosby

"With oil prices setting records, years of neglect finally appear to be coming to an end. ... But for all the new wealth and activity, the best the industry can hope to accomplish is to slow the decline of American oil production. The good times here [Crane, TX], are not nearly as good as they were in the last big oil boom in the 1970s and 1980s--and nobody expects they will get that way, however high prices rise. ... 'You will have trouble finding anyone out here who will use the word boom,' said Ben Shepperd, executive vice president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. 'Everybody calls it the "B" word'," NYT, 2 November.

Over the next few years oil is likely to go much higher. This article reminded me of a song, "Ballad For Americans", 1939, by Earl Robinson and John LaTouche, popularized by Bing Crosby, "Nobody who was anybody believed it. Everybody who was anybody, they doubted it. Nobody had faith".

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