Re: Why don't OPEC raise prices to maximize profit margins?

Steve Campbell wrote:
Good response, Brablo. You are correct.

In the world markets, every dealer of commodities is charging
absolutely as much as they think they can without goring their own ox.

Or killing their Golden Goose. Lurking behind the scenes is The Threat of Alternatives. Even though alternative energy sources have not been fully developend and deployed, the threat -looms- and constitutes a kind of competition to current method of energy production.

It is competation or the threat of competation that keeps prices reasonable. And that is why the doom-sayers who predict a tyranny of inelastic demand are wrong just about every time. As long as there is an alternative (either actual or possible) there is elasticity in the supply-demand curve.

Bob Kolker
.