Oil & The Railroad Commission of Texas
The Railroad Commission of Texas provides some insight to the current oil crisis. Back in about 1919 when railroads had all the power in the U.S. by controlling commerce and long-haul transportation routes, the Railroad Commission of Texas took control of their oil crisis.
In 1919, the trains all used coal for the long-haul transportation needs in the U.S., planes weren't seriously flying yet and short-haul trucking more was often a horse attached to a wagon. Cars were for rich people and roads were so bad that you really didn't want to go many places in a Model T Ford. If you lived in York or the surrounding towns, you probably rode an electric trolley to get out of town. The market for oil was growing, but slowly.
Liquid gold was just waiting and plentiful in Texas and those seeking to tap into that reward began drilling. The more they would drill the more the price would crash and the less was the demand. The folks at the Railroad Commission of Texas didn't like the free market system because it hurt their oil investments so the used their power as handlers of the transportation industry of the time to regulate the price of oil.
In 2005, the dwindling regulatory power of the Railroad Commission of Texas over railroads wqs transferred to the Texas Department of Transportation, but they still have a hand in oil and keep statistics. www.rrc.state.tx.us/divisions/og/statistics/
The statistics tell an interesting story. Oil extraction peaked in Texas in about 1970. The current production is less than when they started keeping statistics in 1935. The number of producing wells has dropped every year since 1987.
We can blame the current oil barons all we want, but they just happen to be at the receiving end of the equation; demand has outstripped supply and the price of oil will continue to climb.
The consumer's key tool here is conservation. Kill demand, price falls.
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