$4 a gallon gas arrives in Seattle--Next stop $5

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:

i saw 4.03 in CT--3.69 in MA and 3.78 in NH all in 1 day.

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Yep, I just paid $4.05/gallon in CT, my first ever purchase at over $4/gallon. In a typical week I'll drive around 200 miles (15 miles each way commuting five days, plus whatever we do on the weekend) in a Camry that gets around 26 MPG. Glad it's not some monster SUV, but some time in 2009 I may get me a hybrid...

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, there's no end in sight for high oil prices...things are liable to get worse, perhaps much worse, before all is said and done. But that's not all.

Witness the possible end of large-scale civilian aviation:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-airlines-fuel-survivemay19,0,4883439.story?page=1

In era of record food prices, farmers are having difficulty shipping their crops to world market:
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/945503.html

Unless someone, somewhere comes up with a replacement mass energy source for fossil fuels (so far none is even in development, let alone anywhere near market-ready), we're looking at some very profound changes in our lifestyle--and not many years or decades "out there" somewhere. We're looking at profound changes within the next 6 to 24 months.

For starters, if you plan on going anywhere by plane this summer, you can expect to pay around 20 to 30% more than last year. This Christmas, expect to pay about 50% more than last Christmas.

To make a long story short, life is about to get a lot more local.

[MattH]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Unfortunately, there's no end in sight for high oil prices...things are liable to get worse, perhaps much worse, before all is said and done. But that's not all.

Witness the possible end of large-scale civilian aviation:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-airlines-fuel-survivemay19,0,4883439.story?page=1

In era of record food prices, farmers are having difficulty shipping their crops to world market:
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/945503.html

Unless someone, somewhere comes up with a replacement mass energy source for fossil fuels (so far none is even in development, let alone anywhere near market-ready), we're looking at some very profound changes in our lifestyle--and not many years or decades "out there" somewhere. We're looking at profound changes within the next 6 to 24 months.

For starters, if you plan on going anywhere by plane this summer, you can expect to pay around 20 to 30% more than last year. This Christmas, expect to pay about 50% more than last Christmas.

To make a long story short, life is about to get a lot more local.

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I saw this coming 30 years ago, and actually started engineering school with the intention of going into solar energy. I quickly learned however that the political will to invest in solar energy came and went too quickly for that to be a viable career path for me, so I went in other directions. But if I were a young person starting out today, I might see a very very different world than I saw 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, as Al Gore also learned, being right about the science does not confer the institutional power to make people face the truth when they find that truth to be inconvenient. Say what you will about Al Gore, on the issues of energy and global warming he can scarcely be accused of short-term opportunism: he has consistently spoken about these issues for decades and often paid a price for sticking to them.

[Anonymous]

MattH wrote:

as Al Gore also learned, being right about the science does not confer the institutional power to make people face the truth when they find that truth to be inconvenient.

My only quarrel with Gore, from "An Inconvenient Truth", he places gold in a balance against the Earth. I think the comparison is counterproductive as naysayers will retort, "Well, if any action we take to offset this is gonna ruin the economy anyway, no sense in facing up to it."

I think we can use tax incentives to produce significant changes, and very quickly.

[MattH]

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@MattH wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Unfortunately, there's no end in sight for high oil prices...things are liable to get worse, perhaps much worse, before all is said and done. But that's not all.

Witness the possible end of large-scale civilian aviation:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-airlines-fuel-survivemay19,0,4883439.story?page=1

In era of record food prices, farmers are having difficulty shipping their crops to world market:
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/945503.html

Unless someone, somewhere comes up with a replacement mass energy source for fossil fuels (so far none is even in development, let alone anywhere near market-ready), we're looking at some very profound changes in our lifestyle--and not many years or decades "out there" somewhere. We're looking at profound changes within the next 6 to 24 months.

For starters, if you plan on going anywhere by plane this summer, you can expect to pay around 20 to 30% more than last year. This Christmas, expect to pay about 50% more than last Christmas.

To make a long story short, life is about to get a lot more local.

---

I saw this coming 30 years ago, and actually started engineering school with the intention of going into solar energy. I quickly learned however that the political will to invest in solar energy came and went too quickly for that to be a viable career path for me, so I went in other directions. But if I were a young person starting out today, I might see a very very different world than I saw 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, as Al Gore also learned, being right about the science does not confer the institutional power to make people face the truth when they find that truth to be inconvenient. Say what you will about Al Gore, on the issues of energy and global warming he can scarcely be accused of short-term opportunism: he has consistently spoken about these issues for decades and often paid a price for sticking to them.

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Gas price continues going up, politicians grandstand, gonna be a looooong summer...

[Anonymous]

its 4.50 in CT now and 4.07 in NH

[Anonymous]

Until we as citizens start geting on congress butts loud and strong to do something about the speclators on the oil futures markets gas prices will continue to spiral upwards. they congress has to stop all of their partisans b/s and start thinking about us the people,instead of their own butts.

Message Edited by wileygo on 06-12-2008 01:10 PM

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Until we as citizens start geting on congress butts loud and strong to do something about the speclators on the oil futures markets gas prices will continue to spiral upwards. they congress has to stop all of their partisans b/s and start thinking about us the people,instead of their own butts.

Message Edited by wileygo on 06-12-2008 01:10 PM

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Reining in speculators will help, but it won't solve the basic problem, which is more and more people chasing less and less oil. That's not going to go anywhere.

[Junejer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Until we as citizens start geting on congress butts loud and strong to do something about the speclators on the oil futures markets gas prices will continue to spiral upwards. they congress has to stop all of their partisans b/s and start thinking about us the people,instead of their own butts.

Message Edited by wileygo on 06-12-2008 01:10 PM

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Reining in speculators will help, but it won't solve the basic problem, which is more and more people chasing less and less oil. That's not going to go anywhere.

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Guys, there are just as many speculators on the other side of the deal, going short (hoping that prices will go down). It's balanced. Heck, I wish I was in the position to go long on a few contracts Jan 2007.

[guiness56]

When I was complaining to North West Airlines about the price of tickets I was told it is to compensate for the price of gas. Filling up my truck is one thing, filling an airplane is entirely different.