[billp]

I suspect in the past energy inefficiency was promoted for financial reasons.

But this may be catching up to energy suppliers. Like PNM?

Any thoughts about this?

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'M')ost people don't pay attention to the price of oil, they pay attention to the price of gasoline.
...

[IanC]

All excellent points. I truly enjoy hearing comments on this site. It really broadens my perspective.

Anyway, I agree that people only will look at the cost of gas. The cost of groceries and other stuff is more elastic and a 25% increase in bread, for example, is easier to get used to.

I'm not looking forward to the rash of "Pain at the Pump" articles coming this Winter, nor am I relishing watching the NPR crowd "knowingly" shake their heads about the sad state of the world while they continue to consume just like they always have. It is very disheartening to watch the disconnect between knowledge and behavior.

-Ian

[americandream]

What choices do they have given the current climate of deep cornucopian conditioning? Garbage in, garbage out is apt in the circumstances.

What will they do...panic as all intellectually limited do when confronted with the unusual. Unfortunately, we no longer have many leaders of any intellectual ability to help reason us out of this quagmire. Those that we do have are largely marginalised in the wilderness of disavowal.

[abelardlindsay]

I think there will be a blow up somewhere besides the U.S first. I am just wondering who's going to fall of the wagon first.

Looks like China is going to be the first to go IMHO. There is comparitively little discretionary gas usage in China to demand destroy compared to the U.S.

This whole thing is going to go off with a big whimper. There will be a lot of whimpering and reassurances that disruptions are temporary and then still more whimpering and despair. I don't even think there's anything that the PTB are even capable of to be able to constructively deal with the situation.

The thing is is that there isn't anybody over the next hill to go invade to get their gas. The problem is too big. We have one planet and we're all f'ing trapped on it and it's too late for any kind of easy mitigation.

[TheDude]

This $100/barrel stuff is such nonsense. Round up. I don't buy anything for 99 cents; it's a dollar ya Madison Avenue prick!

But most people are wowed by the psychological import of these big round numbers. Thus we'll see another storm of protest about US involvement in Iraq when we get to 4,000 corpses. And the difference between 3,999 and that is...what, exactly?

I'm worried about the tipping point cost of oil, whatever the hell that is. Gotta be a TOD article I haven't come across.

I'm like sys1 in that I filter everything through the energy involved. Changed my whole perspective on the world.

[Dukat_Reloaded]

On bloomberg or the front page here, I read that chinese raised the price of their gasoline to $67 a ton, which is pretty cheap thats about 1,000 litres.

I think the china government will keep gas prices down by subsidies. I think most countries will be happy to keep paying higher and higher prices until there are shortages.

There are so many consumers out there right now that should be bankrupt and have had their credit lines cut, but because of lots of inflation & easy credit, multitudes of these people are still consuming when they should not be.

[DarkDawg]

I call it seeing life through "peak oil glasses," but it's the same thing.

I work in an office building about 1000 yards from a city fire company and all day long three or four fire trucks come screaming down the street for every call. I will know we are done when I don't hear the sirens anymore and fires just burn and burn. (Of course my job will probably be gone way before that happens.)

Also, I am way past the gas price thing and the food price thing. I wonder how sheeple will react to higher and higher taxes to pay for fuel for school buses, snow plows, fire trucks, ambulances, medivac helicopters and all the "necessary" services that will no longer function as they do in today's dollars. This due to lack of affordable fuel that is factored into yearly budgets. Maybe these essential services will be the last to suffer as they are artificially propped up using creative financing efforts by government types, the easiest being tax increases.

In fact, I suppose this is already happening. Taxes are being raised as I type this and there is nothing the average ewe or ram can do about it. (not that they would even realize they are being reamed by the man as a result peak oil)

[Heineken]

Why? I guess they really ARE sheeple.

Baaaaa!

[SpringCreekFarm]

I think it's because Americans were raised to think that the American dream is entitled to them, that the US is the greatest country in the world ( in some ways it is ), that the world owes them something and that.....

makes them over confident that TPTB will find a way and the mighty US will prevail. It stems from all that being ingrained from birth. It is just unimaginable that life could be any other way.

The sheeple are quiet because it is unpatriotic to question the status quo.

I hope I'm not offending anyone because I don't intend to.

[Daniel_Plainview]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SpringCreekFarm', 'I') think it's because Americans were raised to think that the American dream is entitled to them, that the US is the greatest country in the world ( in some ways it is ), that the world owes them something and that.....

makes them over confident that TPTB will find a way and the mighty US will prevail. It stems from all that being ingrained from birth. It is just unimaginable that life could be any other way.

The sheeple are quiet because it is unpatriotic to question the status quo.

I hope I'm not offending anyone because I don't intend to.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SpringCreekFarm', 'I') think it's because Americans were raised to think that the American dream is entitled to them, that the US is the greatest country in the world ( in some ways it is ), that the world owes them something and that.....

makes them over confident that TPTB will find a way and the mighty US will prevail. It stems from all that being ingrained from birth. It is just unimaginable that life could be any other way.

The sheeple are quiet because it is unpatriotic to question the status quo.

I hope I'm not offending anyone because I don't intend to.

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'T')he flower children sold out.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'W')hy? I guess they really ARE sheeple.

Baaaaa!

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'T')he flower children sold out.

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DoomWarrior', 'T')hey are incapable of knowing or believing anything else, absent a cataclysmic event.

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')What sort of noise should the "sheeple" be making, in your opinion?


This goes for anyone responding to this thread. What do you want the "sheeple" to be saying, doing, being differently? And how would you know they were doing it, or not doing it?

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', '
')
Time to demand their heads or they will be taking ours.

[Heineken]

Come on, Ludi. The people have no power.

What am I doing? Screaming my head off, HERE. And hoping I don't get arrested for it one dark night.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')This goes for anyone responding to this thread. What do you want the "sheeple" to be saying, doing, being differently? And how would you know they were doing it, or not doing it?