首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Like a lot of earless New Yorkers, I am generally confused by bursts of populist outrage over high gas prices. But I have always
Like a lot of earless New Yorkers, I am generally confused by bursts of populist outrage over high gas prices. But I have always
admin
2014-10-24
91
问题
Like a lot of earless New Yorkers, I am generally confused by bursts of populist outrage over high gas prices. But I have always assumed that the anger is genuine. But amid the recent mania over prices hitting $4 a gallon, I decided to figure out whether this fury is economically rational. So I took a look at data from the Census Bureau, which conducts a quarterly survey of American spending habits. During these last few years of historically high oil prices, Americans spent about $40 a week, or $2,000 a year, on gas. That’s around 5 percent of our overall spending. It’s less than half of what we spend on restaurants and entertainment.
High gas prices must be forcing Americans to cut back in other ways, right? That’s what the economist Lutz Kilian at the University of Michigan wondered. He looked at personal spending habits during periods of high energy prices and discovered that " somewhat surprisingly, there is no significant decline in total expenditures on recreation," which was one place they expected to find frugality. In other words, Americans may protest loudly, but their economic behavior indicates a remarkable indifference to the price of oil.
While sustained high gas prices would certainly produce some turmoil, so would potential spikes in countless other globally traded commodities. But there’s a reason populist outcries don’t start around soybean prices or magnesium spikes. Oil is the only volatile commodity that most Americans deal with directly: we are buffered from most other price swings by our relative wealth. Unlike people in poor countries, consumers here don’t generally buy raw commodity foods; we buy our meals processed or prepared. With most goods, the commodity price has even less impact on cost. " When people buy a phone," Kilian says, " they don’t buy the copper that makes the wiring. "
With gas, though, hurtling prices are unavoidable. Every day, U. S. drivers pay a price determined by forces all over the world that are hard to understand and harder for the United States to control. Even if we invested in better refineries and exploited every possible energy source, from the Keystone pipeline to the Alaskan wilderness, the impact could be minimal. It could eventually lower prices at the pump—but only if nothing else affects them, like OPEC lowering its production to drive prices back up again. The price of oil is, of course, affected by hundreds of interrelated factors.
Many analysts I’ve spoken with suggest that oil prices should fall fairly soon. This will be welcome news to the less-fortunate American families who are not
impervious
to the price at the pump and to anyone who claims to be pinching pennies because of gas. But as unpopular as it may sound, the best possible future for most Americans may involve much higher gas prices. As billions of people, throughout the world, enter the middle class in the coming decades, there will be an enormous increase in the demand for gas. This, along with rising environmental considerations, is likely to send the prices far higher than they are today.
People are not so much concerned about price in commodities like soybeans because______.
选项
A、these commodities are not as urgently needed as oil
B、the price of these commodities are not as volatile as that of oil
C、the price rise of these commodities is not as easily felt as that of oil
D、these commodities are not as widely used as oil in daily life
答案
C
解析
本题考查对文章第三段内容的理解。文章第三段主要分析了人们对于石油价格尤为敏感的原因。石油是唯一一种大多数美国人每天都要与之打交道的消耗品(Oil is the only volatile commodity thatmost Americans deal with directly),而其他原材料往往并不会直接出现在美国人的生活中,因此他们对于这类产品的价格就不那么敏感。例如,因为美国消费者往往都购买加工过的食品,因此对于食品原材料的价格没有切身感受。因此,本题的正确答案应该选[C]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ltK4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisnottrueabouttheElizabethanEngland?WhichofthefollowingstatementsmaynotbethereasonforS
Americanhighereducationstandsonthebrink(边缘)ofchaos.1havesomanyspentsolonglearningsolittle.Thepresentcri
Americanhighereducationstandsonthebrink(边缘)ofchaos.1havesomanyspentsolonglearningsolittle.Thepresentcri
Afieldissimplyasocialsystemofrelationsbetweenindividualsorinstitutionswhoarecompetingforthesamestake.Anexam
Justtwoweeksagothefederalgovernmentcanceled"FutureGen,"agovernment-industryprojecttodeveloptechnologiesforburni
Sincethemaster’sdegreeinbusinessadministrationfirstappeareddecadesago,criticshavecriticizedtheMBAasanivorytow
Regardlessoftheirpoliticalaffiliation,inallcountrieswomenmustovercomeahostofstumblingblocksthatlimittheirpoli
Mostofthepeoplewhoappearmostoftenandmostgloriouslyinthehistorybooksaregreatconquerorsandgeneralsandsoldiers
Researchonanimalintelligencealwaysmakesmewonderjusthowsmarthumansare.【C1】______thefruit-flyexperimentsdescribedi
Researchonanimalintelligencealwaysmakesmewonderjusthowsmarthumansare.【C1】______thefruit-flyexperimentsdescribedi
随机试题
在信息安全领域,基本的安全性原则包括保密性(Confidentiality)、完整性(integrity)和可用性(Availability)。保密性指保护信息在使用、传输和存储时___①_____。信息加密是保证系统保密性的常用手段。使用哈希校验是保证数
中度缺氧病人的动脉血氧分压低于
施工合同双方当事人对合同是否可撤销发生争议,可向( )请求撤销合同。
职能战略的目的是()。
东兴公司2016年8月主营业务收入200万元,主营业务成本150万元,管理费用8万元,公允价值变动收益3万元,资产减值损失1万元,投资收益7万元,营业外收入6万元。假定不考虑其他因素,该企业当月的营业利润为()万元。
在一次数学考试中,第14题和第15题为选做题.规定每位考生必须且只须在其中选做一题.设4名考生选做这两题的可能性均为设这4名考生中选做第15题的学生数为ξ个,求ξ的分布列及数学期望.
根据下列图表,回答下列问题。2009年上半年中部地区主要经济指标2009年上半年,城镇固定资产投资和城镇居民人均可支配收入均居同一位的省份有几
ThemakingofWestSumatradishrendang
A、$15.B、$25.C、$40.D、$45.C对话中男士介绍参加一天会议的注册费是15美金,如果三天都参加则为40美金,女士表示自己三天的会议都要参加,因此她应该支付40美金的注册费,本题选C。
NOCASH,NOPROBLEMAstechnologycontinuestodevelop,peoplearechangingthewaytheypayforthings.Manyofushavea
最新回复
(
0
)