User 162922

$200 Oil - Who's Going to Pay For It?

That's the point...The US is headed for a restructuring of society. Whereas we've dealt with the internet bubble and the housing bubble, we're now experiencing the evaporation of the "Cheap Energy" bubble. Oil is the cheapest most versatile form of energy we have and it's only been around for about 100 years. It has done more for productivity (increasing the amount of work done in the shortest amount of time) then perhaps any other substance on earth. Think of it this way: How long would it take you to cut a cord of firewood with an ax and a hand saw? Now, how long does it take you to do it with a chain saw and a motorized wood splitter? What's really scary, is the majority of development, literally, the way the USA is laid out, has been accomplished in the cheap oil era? What does that mean for the future? Whereas Europe was laid out in the expensive energy era (horseback, oxen, bipedal locomotion), they are likely more able to handle the return to the mean that we are now experiencing in energy costs. Isn't it interesting the Mayan calendar is supposed to end in a few years just as we head into perhaps the most (insert adjective here) era since....the plague?