The reason why it's not a good idea to wait for the market to drive changes in the case of oil is because the effect of market forces driving those changes is likely to be catastrophic and create intense suffering. That's because oil is THE key commodity impacting the price of everything and the productivity of everybody. As the price of oil soars and the supply shrinks, our options narrow and our ability to handle the transition declines.

Because gasoline for cars is so visible and obvious a connection, that's all most people think about when they hear the words "oil shortage" or "oil price increase." But that's only the beginning. Oil doesn't just drive our cars, it heats our homes, grows, transports, and cooks our food, and runs the machines that produce literally everything we make. As the oil peak does its nasty work, we will see famines, worldwide recession combined with runaway inflation, riots, wars, and general ugliness on a scale beyond anything in living memory.

If we had continued our efforts at improving energy efficiency that we began in the 1970s under the prodding of OPEC, and if we had had the foresight to begin a gradual program of transition from low-efficiency dependence on cheap oil to high-efficiency use of alternative energy sources, we would be in good shape now. But because we have waited until the market demanded that we make an immediate change that will, instead, take years to implement even on a crash emergency basis, we are not.

Just fraken great, more supply and more supply..
Demand is up and supply is up and so is the price at the pumps..

Even with the increase of supply will not mean that there is going to be a lowering of the price at the pumps.

There is a five lane road on the north and south of a two lane bridge.............. as long as that two lane bridge stays inplace traffic is going to be slowed to a snails pace.

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Fear the Government

What future fuel costs did you use to evaluate the present and future values of a hybrid? When I read 18-month waiting lists I'd think there are people who looked at the fact oil prices have doubled in a little over a year and used a sliding scale of $4-$10/gallon for their calculations. Did you consider the cost of gasoline four-years ago ($1.88/gal) and project that defined rate of increase four-years out from current prices on a monthly basis?

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/ftparea....xls#'Data 2'!A1

We don't drive that much and fuel costs aren't a concern. In considering past increases and what the future holds, I do know that if I was in the work force, raising a family or had other obligations that required extensive driving, I'd be looking for something that returned 50-60mpg right now with convenience and image being dead last on the list of requirements.

There's no way wages are going to increase at a rate to match increasing gasoline costs and USD devaluation. I said it a long time ago and I'll say it again, we're going to see giant SUVs and other gas guzzlers parked in fields waiting to be recycled.

They'll get far better mileage at a snails pace, which will eventually become more important than the convenience of speed.

Smart.

I think it's naive to assume that a single deposit can shift the entire market-shares around. World-wide oil-consumption is rising. Has anyone any statistics on how the world's oil consumption could develope until 2020, by chance?

Here is one for the past:

Many Eyes: World Wide Oil Consumption

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"I think that gay marriage should be allowed."
- John McCain on an episode of Hardball, 2006, before the commercial break

"I do not believe that gay marriage should be legal."
- John McCain on the same episode of Hardball, after the commercial break

"John McCain does not speak for the John McCain campaign."
- Tucker Bounds, Spokesman of the John McCain presidential campaign.

The straight talk express. You gotta love it.

I assume youre referring to refining capacity? If so, youre right. We need more refineries, more domestic supply, and more non oil energy, specifically nuclear. AND we need less govt regulation to allow businesses to cut costs. I seem to recall this all being part of Bushs grand energy plan back in 2001. Wonder how things would be now if it had been implemented.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

I think the concept of "peak oil" is highly dubious. There are a growing number of scientists who now believe that oil is not a fossil fuel, but rather oil is continuously generated by natural processes in the Earth's magma. Essentially that would mean there is an endless supply of oil. This seems to make far more sense that the infantile notion that oil comes from dinosaurs!

The existence of self-renewing oil fields, like Eugene Island off the coast of Louisiana, shatters the peak oil myth.

Here are a few article for anyone interested.
Abiogenic petroleum origin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Myth of "Peak Oil" - Charles Feathestone - Mises Institute
Discovery and development of oil & gas fields in Dnieper-Donets Basin (1994)
abiotic oil debate

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I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."
-- Barney Frank, October 20, 2008

Why would it mean there is an endless supply? Wouldn't the formation of oil still be a very slow process?

Well, they found fossils in fossil fuel reserves (not dinos afaik but plants) so why would it make more sense? Are there plants growing in the magma?

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openly white, unapologetically heterosexual and happens to be atheist.

I see a bunch of issues here. Firstly, I am not convinced having the majority of control over a commodity in a far away land is a bad idea, especially there. Whilst we would have less to do with middle eastern politics, we would also have to contend with China and India taking a much greater role there. Do we really want the two largest holders of US debt in the world to be cohorts in such a matter?

As for Brazilian oil, sure but there has been quite a bit of action going on in Alaska lately. Including the Chukchi Sea lease sale. Shell is saying it is the biggest N.American find since Prudhoe and may be larger. Also, the State of Alaska is clamping down tough on Exxon with the situation over the Pt. Thompson field. Conoco Phillips and BP are self financing the Alaska Natural Gas Line hooking into through Alberta. The largest private construction project ever. So Alaska will be looking to produce more lots more oil in the next 10 years and beyond, this is outside of ANWR.

The issue as someone else said earlier, we need more refineries and the high prices right now are a reflection of a poor dollar. We drive up our debt to obscene irresponsible levels and this is the pinch we find ourselves in.

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Abstinence Education at its finest:

Not always true.

This is a theory that Soviet scientists came up with, that the methane gas we see in the gas giant planets like Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, was a part of the material that formed earth and is dissolved in the core, and as it works it's way to the surface the methane gets cooked into larger hydrocarbons, forming crude oil.
Under this theory, there would be oil just about anywhere on the planet if you drill deep enough.
Western scientists have a theory that organic matter collected was subducted and cooked into petroleum, a theory that implies that there is a substantially smaller amount of petroleum than would be predicted by the Soviet theory.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Actually it is thought that the majority is from the fossils of plants rather than dinosaurs.

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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Yes, under massive amounts of pressure that the average person cannot fathom. It is a common miscoception that it is dead dinosaurs, and makes for a convenient term when one wants to put forth one political view or another.
Much of it zooplankton, algae etc, basically pond scum. Plus the current view of the scenery in modern times does not reflect its appearance. Saudi Arabia for instance used to be under quite a rich sea, as was the north slope of Alaska.

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Abstinence Education at its finest:

It is good to see that at least one person understands the story.

The last one to be built was the Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana facility in 1976. Now from that time to today there have been over 100 closed.

We have been on this lane reduction from the years of Carter and the other Dems that controled the halls of D.C.
Even when the other side of the coin got into power there was really no change , maybe a bit faster down hill but no stopping of the slide.

And now that more americans have stocks and 401ks that is putting a higher demand on better returns and higher stock prices. So thanks America for the greed on wall street....

There was a time that people said that man could not fly,, and today we are.
There was a time that people said that man could not go over 35mph, and today we are.
There was a time that people said that man could not sail the oceans, and today we are.
The list continues.... ways of drilling be it in the north sea, north slope, or any other place is better today than 50 years ago.
Refineries can be built better today but sadly people say not my back yard but we wish to have 1950's prices and 1990's stock returns...

Could we do better for energy? yes and one way would be to have the nut jobs and the government to get a new set of glasses to truely see what is going on.

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Fear the Government