Over a Barrel: What Happens When the Cheap Oil Runs Out

Even those of us who look down our noses at gas-guzzling SUVs have to face up to the fact that our lives are made easier by cheap oil–and it is still pretty cheap. If you think $2.50-a-gallon gasoline is expensive, just try to imagine $6 a gallon. Europeans have long lived with fuel prices that high, leading to societies far less car-centered and much more conservation-minded than the U.S.