[JohnDenver]

I'd take comments like these with a grain of salt. There's a lot of oil bulls out there who think oil is the new NASDAQ. Remember the dot-com bulls who kept pumping "NASDAQ 10,000"? The people pumping "oil $250" are the same people.

[JohnDenver]

[quote]Morgan Stanley may be among the most advanced of the new breed of oil speculators, but, over the past year, many banks and hedge funds have joined the “black gold rushâ€

[airstrip1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NevadaGhosts', '[')b]Oil could gush to $100:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')It [$100 oil] is totally realistic within a year or two," said Stephen Leeb, who tracks oil for his own investment firm.

[JohnDenver]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('airstrip1', 'A')t the moment governments have generated plenty of liquidity so there is lots of money to chase the price higher.

[JohnDenver]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('airstrip1', 'Q')uestion is at what price are people forced out of the market.

[Riverside]

So what can the rural population do to "protect" themselves from higher fuel costs? Every one here owns a pick up of some kind. The closest town is 6 miles, closest small "city" (dr's and hospital, etc) is 30+. You need a gas guzzler because your daily life revolves around cutting and hauling wood, going to the dump,picking up feed, plowing your driveway, any maybe a little playing in the mud The 20,000 miles per year is probably accurate around here.

What are the alternatives for people like this? I include myself in this group, but dh has a small car for going to work, 32 miles one way. How do you ride a bike to go pick up bales of hay? How do I get groceries for a family of 6 on a scooter when I go twice a month? How do I catch a bus when we don't even have bus service in my county?

This is something that people who have access to public transportation don't think about. My mother lived in Washington DC for almost 20 years, and never owned a car. She didn't have to, she just took the metro or walked.

As for heating oil, the ONE year we heated with it cost over $500 a month! (we did keep it about 68 since we had an infant) Last year we used kerosene, much cheaper, but only one room was warm (in the 50's and we had frozen pipes). This summer we installed an outdoor wood furnace, costs us about $150 for fuel so far, and that was for chainsaw repair & usage.
Carla

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('airstrip1', 'Q')uestion is at what price are people forced out of the market.

[generikan]

well guys, they say, Freedom isnt free

i mean, [iraqi] freedom isnt free

[Tyler_JC]

The danger level is $78 a barrel. That was the price of oil in today's dollars for a barrel of crude at its all-time high in 1979-1980. When Fox News is unable to compare today's high prices to history and find a positive comparison, that's a problem.

We can't have our media sources telling us that we have reached another all-time record high. That would be counter-revolutionary !

[TrueKaiser]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Barbara', 'C')ome on, stop with these lamenting and crying and complaining, we have $6 here and everybody is in the street making LOT of traffic without so many problems.
You'll simply get used!

[JLA]

20k miles is probably more than the average American drives in a year. But, your figures are interesting nonetheless.

[Xelat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NevadaGhosts', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'z')oom off on the only vehicle on the road consuming no fossil fuels

[Antimatter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xelat', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NevadaGhosts', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'z')oom off on the only vehicle on the road consuming no fossil fuels

[lawnchair]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'T')he danger level is $78 a barrel. That was the price of oil in today's dollars for a barrel of crude at its all-time high in 1979-1980. When Fox News is unable to compare today's high prices to history and find a positive comparison, that's a problem.

We can't have our media sources telling us that we have reached another all-time record high. That would be counter-revolutionary !

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'d take comments like these with a grain of salt. There's a lot of oil bulls out there who think oil is the new NASDAQ. Remember the dot-com bulls who kept pumping "NASDAQ 10,000"? The people pumping "oil $250" are the same people.

[Xelat]

are you sure you have the units right here? I'm going to go figure this out later.

[edit - he's right. Goddamn I would never have imagined that my energy output was anywhere near the scale of that of a scooter or car. This really illuminates how bad the food situation is if a cyclist is only getting 130mpg. We gotta stop pumpinh NG into every stupid tomato.]

[Sys1]

Carpooling is something great. End of selfish SUV, now people will go TOGETHER from a place to another.

[ernest]

Yes, in a year or two, most likely, one of the most significant financial impacts in America will be the multi billion dollar loss in value of the already purchased large SUV's. And Ford and GM are both pushing larger ones for next year! Though at least Ford is building a hybrid, and GM is going out of business.

[JoeW]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ernest', ' ')one of the most significant financial impacts in America will be the multi billion dollar loss in value of the already purchased large SUV's.

[pilferage]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Antimatter', 'F')ood calories are actually kilocalories. So the 500 kilocalories to pedal the bike works out to about 2 megajoules, or 20 megajoules going by the 10:1 oil:food ratio. A litre of petrol is about 33 megajoules so you're using the equivalent about 600mL of petrol to go 32km. Works out to about 1.8 litres per 100km or 130mpg for you yanks. A hybrid scooter could beat that, but I think I'll keep my $20 road bike for the moment.