<p>The national average of the price of a gallon of gasoline has gone up 15 cents in the past 7 days. Thirteen states now report gas above $4.00 per gallon, and according to experts, there’s no end in sight. By midsummer, some believe we could be paying above $4.50 per gallon. </p>
<p>Pushing aside the considerable potential impact on my own family finances, I’m concerned about what this means for our overall economy. How can the US economy maintain its tenuous equilibrium under such pressure? I suspect most people have no concept of how wide reaching the domino effect of a crippled US economy could have on the rest of the world, the potential for devastating political and economic unrest…</p>
<p>And now, here we are on the cusp of the most important US Presidential election, perhaps in modern history. Whenever I examine our choices, I feel a sense of anxiety and dread such as I’ve not experienced since the days following 9/11. It feels like we’ve teetering on a precipice, and about to go over the falls in nothing but a wooden barrel. I can’t see any of the current viable candidates being capable of safely navigating us through what’s to come. Nor can I see Congress (no matter what it’s party ratio ends up being), subjugating its myriad personal and partisan interests to the imperative of our overarching national interests. Increasingly, I just keep thinking, “Oh my God, we’re screwed. We’re absolutely screwed”. So yeah, I’ll admit it: I’m Scared.</p>
<p>Am I the only one here fighting an impending sense of doom?</p>
<p>Poetsheart, it’s always darkest before the dawn. What you’re seeing now has been coming for a long time. In fact, we’ll probably see some partial price relief in the coming months - only to see it ratchet up again later. America has been a hostage to petroleum producers for a long time. So what’s the dawn? Maybe we’ll actually wake up - hopefully just in the nick of time - and take actual, meaningful steps to lessen our dependence on petroleum.</p>
<p>No, but let not your heart be troubled. Some of us here can remember 1974 and 1979. This too shall pass.</p>
<p>(And overall I think getting our fuel costs up to the $4-5 per gallon range is good for us in the long haul. Without an economic incentive, we are 20 years late in coming to grips with our energy usage.)</p>
<p>Well I’ve always said that we are living in a blessed time: the period after the invention of penicillin but before the oil ran out. Perhaps we are getting the first solid indications that that age is going to come an end.</p>
<p>However, being an optimistic sort, I’m concerned but I’m not really scared. I know we may be in for years, perhaps many decades, of a rough ride, but I have great faith in science and human ingenuity. In the end we will adapt our technology on the one hand and our behavior on the other and come to a new dynamic equilibrium.</p>
<p>When things start to get rough I predict we will quickly see various political positions on both sides of the spectrum get quickly swept away. Tradtional left-wing opposition to things like nuclear power or new drilling in Alaska will disappear. And traditional right-wing scorn for investment in things like solar or wind power will also go away. But, taking the longer view, in the end it will all work out.</p>
<p>Many analysts think the current price is a bubble just like home prices driven by oil speculators. When they get scared it will drop back around $3</p>
<p>I tell my kids that no one knows where gas prices will be in ten years, but that petroleum is a world problem. Yes the storm is everywhere, but at least we’re riding in the strongest ship (by far!).</p>
<p>The bright side - is it just me or have any of you noticed fewer people at the pumps lately? The cheapo station I try to go to ( a grocery store one - 10 cents off if you buy $50 in groceries that week) is usually jammed but it wasn’t bad today. </p>
<p>Also, I noticed a station near me dropped its price about 10 cents between yesterday and today - I don’t know why (but there was only one car there this afternoon).</p>
<p>Regarding candidates and gas prices - the candidates who support more restrictions on oil exploration and more punishing oil company regulations will be the ones who’ll drive prices up even further.</p>
<p>On the one hand, I agree with your fears, poetsheart, but mostly after I read the tremendous number of postings by naysayers and negative-thinkers here on CC! Not this thread, btw - thanks to all of you for your level-headed responses. I have faith in Americans and in humanity to solve this crisis, as we have in the past. I only see a better world as a result of our finally addressing the oil-dependence issue.</p>
<p>I grew up with ration cards for subsidized gas since we were overseas a lot. Once you ran out of coupons, you paid what the rest of Europe paid, and it was double what we spoiled Americans did.</p>
<p>I will admit that I am scared. Perhaps it is because I live in Michigan, which is feeling the full force of the shift in our economy. Our standard of living is being forever changed. Pay is being drastically cut for existing jobs, health care costs to the worker are soaring, newly created jobs pay little more than minimum wage, prices are up … I can’t help but wonder who is going to buy the goods and services that will keep us in jobs longterm. I have said this before on other threads … but I think that people in other areas of the country have their heads in the sand about our economy. I really believe that the shift we are experiencing here is going to spread to other areas of the country before long. The ripple effect is going to be like nothing we have seen before. There will be a small percentage of people who continue to make more & more money (as they cut the wages and jobs of those under them more & more) - and the rest of us will be pushed further & further down economically. Eventually, even those at the top will be affected, since no one will be able to afford whatever it is they have been making their money from — but of course, it will be after those currently in power have made their money, so shortsightedness will reign supreme for the time being.</p>
<p>That’s my 2 cents. It’s not backed by statistics. It’s driven by a gut feeling of impending … well, not exactly doom, but something close.</p>
<p>Me too. That’s why we’ve always had efficient cars. Let’s face it, things right now are nowhere near as bad as they were in the 70’s. Gas will continue to go up, may have limited availability at times (70’s) and will impact all areas of our economy. But if things eased tomorrow, no one would take action to insure we get off of oil. The 70’s were worse and yet we are still very vulnerable. It’s sad. One has to wonder, what will it take to finally explore some alternatives with vigor?</p>
<p>Labor inputs used to be the major cost of producing the food widget, whether be it a can of beans, a head of lettuce, or a loaf of bread. Today the energy costs would be the major cost component: Natural gas as feed stock and energy to convert to nitrogen fertilizer, oil to ship the fertilizer to distribution points, diesel to deliver fertilizer and to apply it to farm. Fuel to till the soil (a BIG energy user), Fuel to combine the wheat, Fuel to deliver the wheat to collection point, fuel to ship to miller, fuel to mill the wheat into flour. Fuel to ship flour back to distribution points, fuel to ship to bakery, fuel to bake the flour into bread, NGto make the polyethylene bag. Gas to distribute the baked bread to store, More gas to take bread from store to home. And finally energy to dig the sewer, so that the human waste can be decomposed into its elemental constituents to dumped into the rivers where we need fuel to reprocess the water for human consumption. </p>
<p>First of all, keep in mind that the fear/the atmosphere of fear you are feeling has been created and fanned by the Bush Administration for nearly 8 years. It’s how they’ve sought to keep the country under control while they have run amuck.</p>
<p>As to the specifics of gas/oil prices, well, gas has been in the $5 range around the globe for quite some time. The U.S. is just finally getting a taste of it and brought to you, once again, by the Bush Admin (after all, that’s Georgie boy’s business, the oil business, although he was able to find a way to fail at it every time until his Saudi buddies bailed him out). </p>
<p>But, that is not to say that things won’t ultimately roll back. This is presently the immediate end result of the pro-oil company Bush Admin and its complete compliance and support of these price hikes and price gauging, along with the chaos they have created in the middle-east (which is more of a smoke screen to allow this insanity to go on). </p>
<p>To the extent the current admin would or could otherwise actually do something, they are unable as they are incompetent, inept, corrupt and presently completely dysfunctional (is Bush actually currently functioning as President. When’s the last time you saw Cheney?). </p>
<p>If you are truly “scared” by all this, John “I don’t know nuthin’ 'bout no economics” McCain and another four years of Republican (mis)management will just bring more of the same. Now that is truly scarey.</p>
<p>My car only takes premium; I’ve seen premium at $4.29/gallon around here, although I haven’t had to pay that yet. I go to Costco for my gas, and it’s consistently ten to twenty cents a gallon less.</p>
<p>H and I drove around the countryside of Ireland in March in a rental car, so even at our high prices, I feel fortunate compared to their costs.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Smart cars have finally exploded around here. I’d never seen one in the states, and now, in the last four weeks, I’ve seen at least five on the road. One of our wealthy suburbs not too far from here has an upscale auto mall, and they’re selling them there, so I expect that’s how some people are handling it.</p>
<p>Yes, I heard on CNN earlier today that in Great Britain (I believe it was Great Britain…:rolleyes:), two thirds of what they pay for petrol is in the form of taxes:eek:</p>
<p>^ Re: Britain. The diversion of maize and other starchy foods to ethanol production, and at US Government subsidy, will affect the British in yet undetermined ways. Be sure that your food costs will rise substantially.</p>