The Price of Gas

For all the talk on how to deal with gas prices, I haven't seen anyone mention peak oil. A lot of experts in the oil industry predict world peak oil to occur around 2006 to 2008, though we'll only see the actual peak in the rearview mirror. US oil peaked in the early 1970's. Saudi oil is peaking or has already. Reality is that prices are just going to get worse. Drilling in ANWR and offshore is short term at best - last I heard ANWR has all of 6 months supply for the US, and it's hard and expensive to pump.

As the demand and supply curves of oil grow farther and farther apart, the price will continue to grow exponentially. The only way to deal with it is going to be to find different ways to get to work and move commodities. One idea might be to nationalize the rails and privatize Amtrac, but we'd still need huge investment to make trains competitive with long-haul trucking, and I'm guessing that's too little, too late.

The best thing to do now is to buy a bike and try to find living and working places close to each other, preferably with room for a big garden.

Meanwhile, blame Reagan for the current crisis. One of the first things he did after taking office was to cancel the solar incentives Carter put in place. Blame both of the Bushes and Clinton, and the Republican congress, too. Imagine if we'd been working on developing significant alternative energy sources since 1978.

And remember what Douglas MacArthur said: "There is no security in this world. There is only opportunity."