I've long been a follower of the "doom and gloom" school of economics. These guys successfully predicted the $2/gal price of unleaded regular, and they successfully predicted the $3/gal price. They've projected the further increase in the price, and, of course, they've concluded that it will be plenty high enough to warrant buying a car with gas in it when yours runs out of gas, once the pump price exceeds six figures, which it will do sooner than anyone anticipated, simply because of the rapid decline in the value of the US$.

The days are coming when a month's pay in the US will cover a loaf of bread, but not the cheese or bologna. This is because the U.S. worker is happy to drive his car a half-block to the convenience store, where he pays $5 for his pack of cigarettes, but he's not willing, even in a week, to do the work of which that $5 pack of cigarettes is the equivalent, not for $5, and not for $5E6.

The mean price of food has gone up by over 10% around here in the past year because so little food is produced locally that everything is trucked in from elsewhere, all of which costs considerably more to transport. This will continue until, finally, people stop driving those large, gas-guzzling pickup trucks and "sport-utility" vehicles when a motor scooter would meet their need.

The guys who so accurately predicted the jump in the price of gasoline have predicted $5 within the next year or two (depending on which one you ask) and $15 within the decade, with the panic-driven price rising exponentially.

The supply of petroleum is finite. The demand in the U.S. is not. The obvious result will be a steep increase in price until it does impact demand. As it stands, before the end of the next decade, by which time this electric car will be warranted at $5E7 because of the price of gasoline, only a hundred or so people in the U.S. will be able to afford to drive one. They will own all the housing, all the food production capability, and all the rest of us will be out on the street with our guns, hunting one another for food.

Sadly, this will happen soon enough that I may, despite my advanced age, live to see this. I'll probably make a pretty good substitute for sowbelly, but watch out! I've still got good reflexes, a steady hand, and good long-distance vision. A couple of decades ago, I was considered a world-class 1000-meter shooter, too.

RE