At one time people could pull up to a pump and for less than the cost of a good breakfast, they could top off their tanks and drive away without giving it a second thought. Today’s world is very different, the cost to fill the tank one time may exceed what may be considered beyond the threshold of insanity.
Not that long ago oil was in the very comfortable $15 to $25 range. Even when there was a threatened interruption in global supplies during the Gulf war of the early 1990’s the price never exceeded $30 per barrel. Other sources simply ramped up production and things got back to normal except oil tankers sailed from other ports.
In the mid 1990’s most oil experts agreed that oil supply would exceed demand until 2011, however that conclusion came before China developed it’s huge appetite for oil. When that happened the 2011 date was tossed and moved up to roughly 2006 – 2007. It certainly does not take a degree in economics to see what is going on. In fact you only need the simple nature of supply and demand, the lower the supply, the higher the price. At the moment there is no backup to help offset one or more sources going off line.
Now depending on where you go for your information or in some cases disinformation you will find different answers. However going back to Economics 101 it comes down to one of two things, either the price of oil is being artificially inflated, or there simply no oil. Bio fuel production will also have to be reduced as the need for food is now starting to outweigh the need for fuel. Global warming is now actively reducing how much food we can grow as nature starts to fight back.
There may be some temporary easing of prices due to the sour economy in the USA, and that would support the lower the demand equals higher supply thus lower the price Economics 101 basics.
Certainly governments do not want to make the announcement and particularly the USA that we are running out of oil. That simply would turn things upside down and the fallout would be catastrophic. The huge dependancy on a depleted natural resource could very well signal not only the end of governments, but the end of life as we know it. The poor choices of policies of the past will have caught up with them. Listening to companies who were more interested in turning a high profit, and not creating new technology that would have made less profit. If Al Gore never says another word, he would still win every debate as his opponent would simply look like a fool.
So where does that leave us? Well as cars were once only for the rich and elite, that is simply likely to return. The huge multi lane expressways will become increasingly empty as fewer people will have the money to tank up. Heating your house will switch to other more natural methods like geothermal or solar. Connecting the dots, I don’t think much more be said. It is starting to look more and more like a one two punch from the planet/nature fighting back this parasite known as humans. Wars between countries will look like nothing as the planet wages war with the humans. Mother Earth is about to become a bitch.
