$7/gal gas predicted w/i 2 years.....

[Butch Edwards]

..or $200/BBl for crude...either way, the American family is in for a very tough row to hoe.... those who are financed to the teeth will suffer most. I've tried to tell my kids to save,save,save..and I know it's tough when you're just starting out, but ya gotta start sometime. Drive a used car, instead of new... buy smaller house... cut back on entertainment spending... spend vacations @ home... BE THRIFTY WITH YO MONEY!!!

[Peter Quadarella]

It will drive innovation for alternative fuel. With billions of dollars in potential earnings, companies will be going nuts trying to come up with the next gasoline. And at that cost, there will be plenty of people looking to jump ship on gas. Not that I think it's a good thing - it seems to me that the flow of oil is in too few hands, and they can almost set whatever price they want at this point.

[mark page]

The consequences of the price of fuel is hitting harder in areas of the inner KC area. Besides the costs of fuel per gallon, people are getting hit with ice picks through their fuel tanks for fuel theft. Also a prediction that I make, and it's probably already happening in places, is going to be the theft of license plates to throw off the follow ups on fuel station "drive-aways".

[Mike Henderson]

It will drive innovation for alternative fuel. With billions of dollars in potential earnings, companies will be going nuts trying to come up with the next gasoline. And at that cost, there will be plenty of people looking to jump ship on gas. Not that I think it's a good thing - it seems to me that the flow of oil is in too few hands, and they can almost set whatever price they want at this point.

It will also drive fuel efficiency. Maybe plug in hybrids, maybe solutions we haven't even thought of yet. It may also drive people to live closer to cities and their work. But the transition will be painful.

Mike

[Joe Mioux]

Plant a garden and learn to can.

Also, I have been buying E-85 for my 1999 Plymouth Voyager. I lose 4 milers per gallon, but Reg is now $3.96 and e85 is 3.10. The cost is still bad, but not as bad as reg.

joe

[Jeffrey Makiel]

If we hit $7 per gallon in that short of a timeframe, I fear that our economy will take a devastating hit, and it won't matter if you use a bicycle to go to work, you will be squeezed.

Everything requires fuel for its creation, transportation or marketing. I am talking about the basic needs of life. Even if you live like a hermit, the taxation system will seek you out since all public services will cost a fortune.

There is no escape. Not in this short of a timeframe.

As a nation, we did not learn much from the 1970s gas crisis. Most folks today that are 40 years old and younger did not consciously experience this crisis. That's probably over half the population of our country today.

I remember the older folks many years ago as being non-materialistic. They always preached that one should saved for a rainy day. They also experienced the great depression. I bet that 95% of the folks today did not consciously experience the depression. This may explain our lack of a decent energy policy as well as our willingness to accept enormous national and personal debt.

I'm getting depressed....Jeff

[Rob Russell]

...either way, the American family is in for a very tough row to hoe...

Butch,

I give you a LOT of credit for using the phrase properly. I've heard so many folks talk about "a tough road to hoe" that I gave up explaining where the phrase came from.

As someone who helped out on my grandfather's farm in CT (rocky New England soil), I truly understand the real meaning of "a tough row to hoe".



Rob

[Jamie Cowan]

Butch,

I give you a LOT of credit for using the phrase properly. I've heard so many folks talk about "a tough road to hoe" that I gave up explaining where the phrase came from.

As someone who helped out on my grandfather's farm in CT (rocky New England soil), I truly understand the real meaning of "a tough row to hoe".



Rob

I'll second that. Like when someone says, "I could care less...," when they really mean that they couldn't care less. Now, as far as gas prices go, I paid $2.30 a gallon yesterday. Yes, you read that correctly. My local supermarket gives out coupons for gas, and you can combine them. I had been saving them for a few weeks, and had enough of them to save a buck forty a gallon. Next week will not be as pleasant.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Everything in the US is big. Bigger is better.

- US homes are getting larger. Nobody wants a half cape house anymore...those are 'starter homes'.

- Vehicles are bigger. Those Ford Excursions and Hummers marked the apex of vehicular big.

- Even our children are bigger, and so is the epidemic of onset type II diabetes.

What's left? ...I know. Debt!...let's make our national and personal debt bigger!

Now we're in 'BIG' trouble.

-Jeff

[Brian Elfert]

Everything in the US is big. Bigger is better.

- US homes are getting larger. Nobody wants a half cape house anymore...those are 'starter homes'.

- Vehicles are bigger. Those Ford Excursions and Hummers marked the apex of vehicular big.

Not everyone wants bigger. My house right now is 2,750 square feet. It was around 1,800 square feet before I finished off two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the basement. Way too big for a single person.

I'm trying to sell the house so I can move to a smaller house. I have a plan for a new house that is only 1024 square feet plus basement. In today's market it makes more sense to buy a small foreclosure and fix it up instead of building new. I really want geothermal to reduce energy usage, but the upfront cost is too much.

I bought a small VW Golf TDI back in June 2003. I had looked in March 2003 for one, but gas had spiked to something like $1.60 and the cars were selling like hot cakes. By June gas prices were back to something like $1.40 and the dealer actually had one car coming in that was not sold. I bought that one.

The problem with my Golf TDI is that the MPG sucks recently and diesel prices are 70 cents more than gasoline these days. It only gets 32 to 35 MPG with a fair bit of city driving and used to get 38 to 40 MPG. I also have the automatic that cuts up to 10 MPG. I've considered getting a new small gas powered car since Golf TDIs are selling at a premium. I would save money on a monthly basis.

[Chris Padilla]

- Even our children are bigger, and so is the epidemic of onset type II diabetes.

What's left? ...I know. Debt!...let's make our national and personal debt bigger!

Now we're in 'BIG' trouble.

-Jeff

I'm a bit smaller since downsizing to a Trek to commute to work!

[Dennis Peacock]

Butch,

Stay with your kids on that buddy. I've been teaching my kids the very same thing as it's not going to get any cheaper to "survive" any more. Hang tough buddy....and yes....it IS "a tough row to hoe".

[C Scott McDonald]

High prices generally fix high prices.

Around here at least traffic is still bumper to bumper on weekends. Until depand drops the prices wont either.

It is interesting that Iran said they where going to cut back on production. Why? They can't find anybody to buy it. They are storing the oil in tankers off the iranian coast.

Something doesnt add up with this deal and it will fix itself soon.

This is the first in four weeks there has been a decline in inventories. But gasoline inventories are up.

There will be a melt down soon.

[Andrew Derhammer]

Read this http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/...o/oil_congress
Personally IMHO the gov. should set a standard on what the price should be week to week depending on supply and demand not what these money hogging oil slobs decide on doing. The gov. should also put more money into making the machines to convert trash to light crude. We have the technology it's just not out there main stream.

[Greg Peterson]

Suppose we let the oil companies drill in the Arctic reserve. And suppose further there is a substantial amount of oil.

What rule of free market enterprise would prevent the oil company from getting the current market price per barrel? At this time, $130 will buy you a barrel of crude oil. Why would the oil company sell a barrel for less than this amount? They won't sell it at a cut rate price out of patriotism. They're going to get as much per barrel as they can.

The whole 'drill our way out of it' is nothing less than opening up more oil fields for oil companies.

We need to rethink how we store and use energy. Petroleum is a portable, flexible, adaptable form of energy. But it's old technology.

$7/gallon? That'll actually be good for the long term. Which by the way is a perspective that has been ignored for quite awhile and we are now reaping the results of our failure to think beyond the next quarterly report. Going to be a lot of pain in the meanwhile. But $7/gallon gas will make a whole lot of energy options very competitive. And once people adapt they may find that there are advantages to breaking out of the oil based economy paradigm. For starters, imagine your suburban home, off grid.