May we call the fuel price hikes which affects every human life as economic terrorism ?

Question

May we call the fuel price hikes which affects every human life as economic terrorism ?

Answer 1

no.  you can call it inelasticity of demand with respect to price.  The american people inexplicably continued to buy large SUVs and high performance luxury cars long after all the data was in about the amount of oil in the ground and the economic incentives for the oil producing nations to pump and sell the oil at various price points.  We have also known for many many years that when you have a large budget defecit and a trade imbalance, that the value of your currency goes down.  It should have come at no suprise to economists that there would be speculation in oil when the dollar fell.

People don't like to face the truth when it is inconvenient for them to do so.  But the wanton consumption of gas guzzling automobiles and trucks defies explanation.   I recall asking new Hummer owners what kind of milage they got, and they would shrug and say 15 mpg.  I'd ask "don't you worry about gas going up to $4 a gallon or even higher"?    They either didn't believe it would, or thought they could afford it, presumably because they also thought they could keep refinancing their mortgage for cash out and a lower monthly payment forever too.

The long and the short of it is that people need to experience the pain that inevitably results from overly optomistic estimates of the future from time to time, or the markets don't behave in a rational manner.   Politically it would be a huge mistake in the long run to bail out the housing markets, or to subsidize gas consumption any more than we already do.

People will adapt, react, and the people who refused to consider the downside of their behaviors will pay a price, as it should be.  The pain they experience, by losing money on the giant SUV they didn't need, or the huge McMansion they built 45 miles from work will serve as examples to others on the consequences of irrational thinking in the face of clear data suggesting trends in the opposite direction.

We all knew demand for oil was rising, long before gas prices went this high.   We all knew there was a housing price bubble in many communities accross the country.  We all knew interest rates during the balanced budget era of Bill Clinton could not go any lower, especially when the current occupant went into a war he had no idea how to win, and no political will to pay for on anything but credit.

The people that wouldn't listen to the wisdom that was readily available, across the airwaves and in print, are the people that are supposed to lose money, so that the markets function, they return to equilibrium, and the investment decisions are back in the hands of rational people who pay attention to clear economic signs.

Answer 2

You certainly can.  Just like you can call some guy cutting you off in traffic "vehicular terrorism" and the shortage of Hannah Montana tickets "musical terrorism".  It certainly dilutes the the meaning of the term though -- from 'using violence to effect political change through fear of future violence' to 'thing I don't like' -- but maybe it will catch on.