Looking towards supply and demand.

Question: What would it take to trigger an oil crisis?

Jim Hackett: I think the thing we create an oil crisis, if people the most the quickest thing to do that, there are number of economist who studied this in some great detailed. One of my bigger learning’s and continues readings on this issue of environmental impacts from energy CO2, particular, because I think we are having a virtual reality hoist on us as world at this point which we got to be very careful about. I actually think that one of the things it could lead to that crisis is a CO2 action on the part of all of the governments of the world to say you just got to stop consuming this much and defining global warming is being caused by man made machines with CO2. It is so happens on some business world, where we have dealt with global cycles on climate change for millennium, hundreds of millions of years and we personally do not buy the notion, because long before Mercedes were burning gas, there was cold and hot periods. We do not particularly buy the notion, that only man made machines of CO2 are what driving global climate change. We actually don’t think it is helpful, but there are number of studies that say that actually global warming precedes CO2 emissions, because things like CO2 come out of the ocean for example. So, one thing we got to be very careful is not to create knee-jerk policy reactions that are we actually put us into a position of crisis, when market forces could otherwise have determined to lot of them. In another words, if you and I were paying twice as much for gasoline, I bet you we consume hell a lot of less gasoline and so one of the things that happens by nature of supply demand being allowed to work is you actually do have forces in human behaviors start changing behaviors and there fore help that equation itself. 

Recorded On: 3/24/08