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Federal Gas Tax Increase a Definite Possibility

Great ideas! I believe petroleum vulerable Europe has the general answer.... Tax motor fuels AND tax big cars by weight or engine size. Talk about demand destruction. In USA because of large geography, I don't think motor fuel should be taxed as heavily.... but still taxed more than now.
ASIDE: I never saw a Ford F150 sized pickup in Ireland where fuel is/was nearly $8.00/USG.

>> J. Wills.. When I lived in Texas, I had almost exactly the same daily (45) commute miles as yours. My Mercedes diesel routinely gets 30+ MPG and during the spike fuel averaged about $3.90/USG. For 21 work days/month plus approx 400 "leisure" miles, my ~80 gallons of diesel cost about $320/month. Your numbers don't compute.
Your ideas are quite credible.

Rikiki

PS. My brother's Jetta VW TDI (diesel) has given >50 mpg on road trips.

Rikiki

Paul Krugman + Al Gore = The Way Forward

Folks, this is just plain silliness spilling over into a formerly great "Seeking Alpha". Just like the cable news, they have to keep something "interesting", "provacative", "polarizing" to keep the eyeballs on this site. Getting to be like the "Yahoo" sites' caustic slug fests... except without the filthy descriptors.
Many people on this site now just shout palaver from the right and left over and over. No basis in fact... just assertions and shoutdowns.

AGW is a theory debated by the EARTH SCIENTISTS, a relatively small and select group of MSs and Phds. Let them collectively debate the issues without interference form polititians and writers. I venture that if there were as much interest in the "Theory of Relativity" as there is in the "Theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming" we might be less distracted by "SCIENTIFIC THEORIES".
Maybe we could concentrate on human basic needs right now..... like getting rid of air pollution, assuring a minimal level of medical care for those who are in greatest need, caring for the young disowned street kids and unowned orphans, here and around the world.

Such displaced energy. What a waste of human resource.

Rikiki

How Does the Financial Crisis Affect the Peak Oil Thesis?

RichJoy,

I noted in your comment that you believe "Peak Oil" is just a theory. I admit that the "Peak Oil" production position for this planet is not currently knowable (only educated guesses at best) and therefore not really germane to shorter term price (supply and demand) discussions. So I do believe the insertion of "Peak Oil" into this headline leadin is just a teaser with little regard for the actual content.

I posted this earlier on another article on oil and it addresses "Peak any non-renewable commodity.

>>"How can you persist in calling "Peak Oil" a theory. When there is a finite quantity of ANY product or resource that is being consumed grand scale, you will have a "Peak XXXXXX" There are capped oil wells in both east and west Texas that reached their peak production prior to 1962. There are entire oil fields in California that reached peak production at mid century. There are regions such as the Permian Basin in west Texas and east New Mexico and Catarell in Mexico which have been in decline for over a decade. And, indeed, there are countries that are pumping less every year. The pool is being sucked dry worldwide. While some field's production is questionable ( i.e. Saudi), others are yet being discovered. Yes, Russia is pumping more and may not peak for some time but Norway and UK have to look forward to a lot less from the North sea platforms.

The point is that you (all countries) have proof that harvesting non-renewable, non-recyclable "stuff" is in decline. There is no argument here, scientific or otherwise, to dispute this "law of use and depletion of non-renewable resources". So it is not a theory. It is provable! <<

Rikiki