Comment 23643

By David (anonymous) | Posted May 23, 2008 at 10:56:01

"Cheap Oil" wasn't exactly the problem, because it was only cheap then by comparison to today. The real problem was that we have had 60 years of taking advantage of it by building suburbia and structuring lives with long commutes, and then living in an orgy of consumption and debt that has helped force oil high due to currency collapse. With the converging emergencies of peak oil and end of the Dollar and world tensions, we need a lot more than a gas tax reduction - we need a complete restructuring of the old life "as we knew it".

But near term, the costs of attempting to maintain what we have built will force everyone from the consumption mode to the survival mode, and that is going to reduce the economy drastically - something that really needs to happen anyway. Pressure will come off oil production as economies find a more sustainable balance, but it is going to mean some big changes in Western lifestyles.

Trucking companies are going under, and the days of the 3000 mile Ceasar Salad are about over. Kunstler's "World Made by Hand" view might not be far off target. The history of industrialization may be nothing more than a 100 year blip on the timeline, with life before it and after it closely resembling each other.

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