NYTIMES/ Crude oil's price has roughly stayed the same since August in the $70 to $83 range. Economists and government officials believe that range is high enough for oil production investment and encouraging alternative energy but low enough for consumers to tolerate it. Economist Kenneth Rogoff calls it a "sweetspot." "If we still had $35 oil prices, you would not have seen us be nearly as active in the Gulf of Mexico,” says Anadarko Petroleum's James Hackett.
