Blog Archives
WHAT IS A FAIR PRICE FOR OIL?
Dairy farmers get a price for milk that is held down by oligopsony, agreement between a small number of buyers for their product. For stability of supply, the price has to recompense investment. Oil exporting countries get a price for oil that is held down by oligopsony, agreement between major oil importing companies. For stability of supply, the price has to recompense investment and also anticipate the depletion of petroleum resources with oil supply running out. For example, a higher price could be demanded to fund diversification into agriculture. Oil has varied per barrel between $20 in 1997, $160 in 2008, and $60 today.
Is the ethical position of companies buying oil different from supermarkets buying milk? Who will provide for oil exporters to transition away from oil when it runs out?
Novel ‘$hort of Love’ is about love set in the international oil industry, with some relationship and oil supply dilemmas considered in a satirical commodity framework.
Moving away together?
Job relocation out of town can bring conflict if one of a couple is reluctant to move. To stay together, there is a fair and scientific way to resolve the impasse that can respect their ‘inertias’: different propensities to keep on doing what they have been doing. This method is explained in my novel ‘$hort of Love’, Chapter 66 Relocation Refusal. When a couple cannot agree, should it be for want of trying? Book information: http://www.martinknox.wordpress.com
CAN ALONENESS BECOME A PHOBIA?
Waiting for a phone call or a message from a prospective lover has uncertainty that can worsen feelings of aloneness.
‘Aversion to aloneness can be treated by habituation similar to a dog phobia’, reports Helen Thomson, ’The Agony of Waiting’, New Scientist, 19 October 2019, p43. Gradual exposure can reduce fear.
Alternatively, throwing yourself into an engrossing task can provide helpful diversion. Aloneness is not a pathological condition.
Robin Williams said ’the worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone’.
The Roman philosopher Cicero said that he was never less lonely than when he was alone.
CAN VULNERABILITY BE HEDGED?
The end of a relationship can bring uncertainty.
Individuals differ in how they respond to it.
Relief, worry about the future, even paralysis through fear of the unknown depends on their ‘tolerance’ for uncertainty.
A ‘vulnerability factor’ contributes most to anxiety disorders, according to Helen Thomson, ’The Agony of Waiting’, New Scientist, 19 October 2019, p43.
In the new satirical fiction novel “Short of Love” by Martin Knox, the central character Tom uses a commodity trading strategy ‘a straddle” to ‘hedge’ his vulnerability to love.
Will this ensure Tom’s tolerance for the uncertainty of love?
