While this is doing terrible damage to our economy and the general psychie of the average US consumer, I see it as a good thing in the long term. People will live closer to work and the city. We will use oil/fossel fuels more efficinetly and will reduce our Carbon footprints on a nationwide scale.

Plus I believe this will self correct in some aspects as I think that oil is being traded as an inflation hedge much more than a commodity with supply and demand issues. When the stock markets stop sucking and the dollar gains some semblance of stability, oil will trend down, atleast to a point where demand isnt falling anymore. Maybe 2011?
When that finally happens, advances like plug in hybrids which require no new major investments in infrastructure and offer significant fuel savings (I personally would fill up like 5X a year instead of about every 3 weeks) will mean US demand will be far below the previous levels seen before 2008.