T.Boone Pickens on NPR: Whats after oil? I dunno

NPR is running an interesting series on Morning Edition called The Long View. A few segments ago, they interviewed a very contrarian Lewis Lapham who just about made Steven Inskeep gasp with increduelity with some of his answers. Next week will be Kurt Vonnegut, which I will not miss (I saw him speak in San Angelo, TX, of all places in 1989 and he was very entertaining). Today was T. Boone Pickens, the corporate raider and oil billionaire. He too almost made Steve Inskeep gasp. More on the flip.
T. Boone Pickens told a skeptical Inskeep that he thinks that oil will go to $100-$150 dollars a barrel in herky-jerky steps as price throttles demand in the next ten years. Anybody who hangs around here much probably suspects that he is about $50 low and about 5 years late. Inskeep asks him about an interview he conducted with the management of British Petroleum and other oil executives who contend that oil may drop to around $40 dollars a barrel or lower. Pickens replied that he “doesn’t know how the oil companies think” and that “BP sold out of the foundation of their production, the North Sea, which told me the North Sea was finished”. The CEO of BP and Pickens agree that demand is going to increase efficiency, but they differ as to how that will affect price. BP seems to think that lack of demand will lower price while Pickens thinks that price will stifle demand. Inskeep asks him how Americans will react to a massive increase in the price of a barrel of oil. Pickens responds with a couple of answers:

1. “SUVs will be dinosaurs pretty quick”;

2. Congress will have to pass higher CAFE standards;

3. People will adjust. Instead of going to the store 3-4 times a week, they will go once a week.

“Its not a panic. It’s not something that will happen overnight, but it is something that will happen over time”.

Daily Kos