The apparent assumption that this is really a big deal in the the big scheme of things is what causes me to get somewhat snarky
Tell this to people form Ecuador, Haiti and Egypt
Let’s list what it has caused already.
-Increased starvation in the third world.
-American Airlines is losing like 3 million a day. The industry will be half the size it is today very very soon.
-Mass transit is bottle necking around country no plans for more. Or very very little anyway.
-Do I really have to bring up the fingerprints of Texas Oilmen all over the corpse of Iraq. Cheney and Co understand very very well the oil situation is and the implications. The geopolitics is the scariest. I do not think it is a coincidence that all our bases in afghanistan are along the pipeline we built after the invasion. Or the fighting in Basra is where 3/4 of the oil is.
The question is can we deploy viable alternatives to the market before serious economic dislocation is done from the price? Does anybody have a non-fossil fuel car?
Not to mention how it destroys the global economic model of getting a ceasar salad from 1500 miles away.