FROM THE ARTICLE: Peak oil will come. When it does, its effects on the global economy are uncertain. In the meantime, the oil companies must keep the following plates spinning: faith in oil as the energy source of capitalism, a high enough price to remain on top of the corporate world, a low enough and steady enough price to avoid contributing to a lengthy recession, or even a depression. While the differential perspective on accumulation makes it clear that growth is not synonymous with the corporate interest -- as long as everyone else is declining faster than you, then you are differentially accumulating -- depressions are dangerous for their unpredictability and their potential to threaten the capitalist status quo. . . . Undoubtedly, one of these plates will drop. The question is: which one? The consequences of the answer to that question will come more immediately than the geologically necessary peak in production and should be of greater concern.
FULL TEXT: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/249/
-- Jonathan Nitzan Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario, M3J-1P3 Canada Voice: (416) 736-2100, ext. 88822 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Email: nitzan at yorku.ca Website: http://bnarchives.net