The live ego meter on oil markets opens at level three when prices spike and executives treat the decades-old idea of demand destruction like an optional software update. Everyone nods along as if sustained losses in buying habits have never followed high prices before.
At level five the meter ticks higher as analysts insist any dip in demand is just a temporary mood swing rather than the predictable result the term refers to. They point to past cycles the way people cite old gym memberships that never got used.
By level seven the delusion accelerates. Boardrooms declare that consumers will absorb whatever the commodity costs because alternatives are inconvenient, ignoring how quickly fleets and factories pivot when prices stay elevated.
The needle edges toward ten when someone claims this spike proves demand is inelastic forever, turning a straightforward economic pattern into evidence that the rules simply do not apply to them.
