{"id":816,"date":"2008-01-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chisnell.www216-119-142-248.a2hosted.com\/chizblog\/?p=816"},"modified":"2017-08-07T03:06:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T03:06:00","slug":"bad-economics-oil-and-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/bad-economics-oil-and-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Economics: Oil and Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past weekend, oil prices hit $100 per barrel.\u00a0\u00a0Undoubtedly, gasoline prices will rise again, too, and the Democratic candidates responded at\u00a0Saturday\u2019s New Hampshire debates by warning of recession<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Even so, the major oil producers of the world don\u2019t seem worried:\u00a0\u00a0$100 isn\u2019t high,\u00a0according to OPEC<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0They cite increased manufacturing costs and labor costs as reasons.<\/p>\n

Oddly, we\u2019ve heard this before.\u00a0\u00a0Peter Maas, of the\u00a0New York Times Magazine<\/em>, warned a few years ago that\u00a0prices of even $60 could cause a recession<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Inflation being what it is, we can expect that to be adjusted three years later, but I\u2019m surprised that every time I read about peak oil and high prices, a too traditional (and limited) understanding of capitalism seems at work.<\/p>\n

Oh no, you say, he isn\u2019t going to write about economics, is he?\u00a0Actually, yes and no.\u00a0\u00a0Oil economics is merely an example of our culture\u2019s limited thinking; it usually misses about 2\/3 of the equation.<\/p>\n

Every time oil companies discuss costs, they discuss the cost of manufacturing, of drilling, of refining more crude.\u00a0\u00a0How often do they discuss the cost of producing raw crude or the cost of its environmental impact?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some real economics:<\/p>\n

\"\"Scenario One:<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s suppose you and a friend are stranded in the desert with no food but a single basket of fruit. How long before you eat your first?\u00a0\u00a0You have no idea when (or if) help will arrive. How do you divide the fruit?\u00a0\u00a0Do you discuss its use or do you each consume as much as you wish without talking to the other?\u00a0\u00a0Do you eat it all at once or do you space out its consumption?\u00a0\u00a0Even though you\u2019re in a desert, do you save some seed for potential regrowth?<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the first third which is missing from our formula.\u00a0\u00a0The cost of a barrel of oil never accounts for the price of its natural production.\u00a0\u00a0It takes hundreds of thousands if not millions of years to produce (hydrocarbons created from biological products).\u00a0\u00a0Since the amount of oil is not limited, how much do we charge for the environmental labor?\u00a0\u00a0(Name one craftsperson who does not in part charge for the length of time spent on creation.)\u00a0\u00a0I imagine such a commodity would be very valuable.<\/p>\n

Scenario Two:<\/h3>\n

You and your friend take a picnic to a state park.\u00a0\u00a0You pay the $10 admission and enjoy the afternoon.\u00a0While there, you leave soda can tops and cellophane scattered about which kills some rare birds. The campfire you leave burning sparks a fire which destroys a few acres before being brought under control.\u00a0\u00a0Does the state park hold you responsible and charge you?\u00a0\u00a0On what do they base their fine?<\/em><\/p>\n

This portion is easier to understand.\u00a0\u00a0Every time we damage our environment, the degree and duration of the \"\"damage must be factored in to the cost.\u00a0\u00a0If we knew that you would commit this act\u00a0every time<\/em>\u00a0you entered the park, wouldn\u2019t your admission price go up?\u00a0\u00a0(Yes, you would be banned from the park, but banning Exxon from the planet is apparently not an option.)<\/p>\n

And yet again, these prices are not figured into gasoline costs, just the middle third, production itself.\u00a0\u00a0What is the cost of replacing oil in the ground?\u00a0\u00a0What is the cost of repairing the damage done by oil consumption?\u00a0\u00a0And\u2014most importantly\u2014if the oil companies are not paying it or placing it in their costs, who is paying for it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m hardly the first to note this, but it\u2019s worth considering for a number of reasons.\u00a0\u00a0For me, the most important is that\u2014in terms of economics and even logic\u2014we tend to think in \u201cnow\u201d costs, what it costs us today to complete a task.<\/p>\n

I eat the candy now without considering the future weight consequences\u00a0or health costs (or where the chocolate came from); I smoke the cigarette now; I say \u201cplastic\u201d at the grocery store because it\u2019s easier; I even resolve a student discipline issue with a simple \u201csuspension\u201d rather than consider the factors which produced (and will again produce) the behavior or the impacts of what the suspension will cost us in future resentment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

True, this economic framework can be used in many cases, even education.\u00a0\u00a0The education debate is focused around what we can do today to make students score higher on tests.\u00a0\u00a0Occasionally, we consider the front- and back-end costs as well.\u00a0\u00a0Poverty, drugs, and abusive families impact student success\u2014therefore, this is a cost of education production. What can we do to ensure our young people are safe and have what they need before they reach the school?\u00a0\u00a0What is the cost of a society which produces high-scoring ACT results but little in terms of job viability? What is the cost of producing a society which devalues art? Which \u201cwrites off\u201d some students as drop-outs or, worse, passes them on with diplomas regardless of their literacy levels? These are all costs of education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We can look at teachers as \u201cResource Input,\u201d too.\u00a0\u00a0What well are we drawing from to find them?\u00a0\u00a0What methods do we use to train them, refine them, exploit them efficiently? Why does teaching have one of the highest attrition rates of all careers?<\/p>\n

We have two basic choices about what schools will produce: people who contribute to and enhance the world (which means better resources to draw from later) or people who thoughtlessly consume and even damage it.\u00a0\u00a0This means looking seriously at what \u201cenhancing the world\u201d might mean.\u00a0\u00a0It doesn\u2019t mean merely \u201cfinding a good job in society\u201d or \u201cgetting into college\u201d (which is merely a deferment of the question to a later institution).<\/p>\n

The answer we\u2019ve chosen so far is fairly clear.\u00a0\u00a0We ignore 2\/3 of the economics framework and pay only $3.00 for our gasoline today.\u00a0\u00a0Let tomorrow\u2019s students worry about the later cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend, oil prices hit $100 per barrel.\u00a0\u00a0Undoubtedly, gasoline prices will rise again, too, and the Democratic candidates responded at\u00a0Saturday\u2019s New Hampshire debates by warning of recession.\u00a0\u00a0Even so, the major oil producers of the world don\u2019t seem worried:\u00a0\u00a0$100 isn\u2019t high,\u00a0according to OPEC.\u00a0\u00a0They cite increased manufacturing costs and labor costs as reasons. Oddly, we\u2019ve heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,262],"tags":[417,357,418,419,420,292],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-education","tag-act","tag-economics","tag-environment","tag-oil","tag-schools","tag-testing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2008\/01\/West_Texas_Pumpjack.jpg?fit=399%2C299&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1754,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/i-am-responsible-for-the-bp-oil-disaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":0},"title":"I Am Responsible for the BP Oil Disaster","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2010 Jun 25","format":false,"excerpt":"The last two months has been little but news-clogged media around the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We are immersed in apologies, ladled with blame, and are tuned in to 24\/7 HD coverage of the leak 5000 feet below the surface (watched online by literally tens of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/062710_0601_IAmResponsi2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1635,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/road-through-henan\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":1},"title":"Road Through Henan","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2008 Jun 25","format":false,"excerpt":"As we drove through the hills of Henan on our way to Luoyang, we passed a steady stream of trucks moving east and west; the eastward trucks were moving in our direction, spreading goods to the major and middle cities, and the westward trucks, heavily laden, were taking supplies to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Chinese-shoppers.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":823,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/year-of-the-potato-for-corn-eaters\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":2},"title":"Year of the Potato \u2013 For Corn Eaters","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2008 May 5","format":false,"excerpt":"I just found out today\u2014please don\u2019t ask me how\u2014that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s IYP, for those of you who are on the inside track. Who knew such amazing facts as 1\/3 of all the world\u2019s potatoes are grown in China and India, that Dan Quayle still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/maxresdefault.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":807,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/feeling-chinas-lead\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":3},"title":"Feeling China\u2019s Lead","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2007 Oct 13","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Sunday I heard the women in the restaurant booth next to mine complain about toys from China.\u00a0\u00a0One, in particular, was loud and vehement in her opinions.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to buy American from now on!\u201d she practically yelled. \u201cChina should just leave us alone!\u201d And no, I didn\u2019t set down my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/dora.jpg?fit=597%2C417&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/dora.jpg?fit=597%2C417&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/dora.jpg?fit=597%2C417&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":793,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/testing-our-ethic\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":4},"title":"Testing Our Ethic","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Jan 2","format":false,"excerpt":"The following post was first printed as part of the Briggs-Chisnell project, a dialogue on issues of education and literacy. \u00a0 Let\u2019s be in an uproar. Ethics have fallen in our society. Kids these days are apathetic and don\u2019t care. No matter what we teach them, it is seen as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/01\/cheating.jpg?fit=525%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/01\/cheating.jpg?fit=525%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/01\/cheating.jpg?fit=525%2C350&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":795,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/33-prices-tags-of-innocence\/","url_meta":{"origin":816,"position":5},"title":"33 Prices Tags of Innocence","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2011 Sep 25","format":false,"excerpt":"What has ignorance produced? A small sampling: Ignorance fishes bread from the toaster with a fork. Ignorance believes World Wrestling Entertainment is real. Ignorance says, \"All we need to do is. . . . \" Ignorance wears no condom. Ignorance chooses terrorism to kill innocence. Ignorance creates Nazi death camps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/092511_0258_33PriceTags3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}