Oil prices are now as high as they have been for three years. At this writing, Brent is $74.14 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate is at $68.76. These prices aren’t really very high, if a person looks at the situation from a longer term point of view than the last three years. Figure 1. EIA chart of weekly average Brent oil prices, through April 13, 2018. There is always a question of how high oil prices can go, and for how long. In fact, we have many resources, of many kinds, whose prices of extraction keep rising higher. For example, obtaining fresh water for the world’s population keeps getting more and more expensive. Some parts of the world need to resort to desalination . The world economy cannot withstand high prices for any of these resources for very long. Certainly, it cannot withstand high prices for a combination […]