[DesertCat]

Yawn. There were many articles written like this in the 1970's and oil is substantially cheaper now.

There are two problems with alarmism like this. One is that commodities and energy keep getting cheaper over long periods of time. So they keep pushing out their endpoints, like catastrophy cultists everywhere.

But the even bigger problem is that if their predictions ever turn out to be true, it will lead to substantially higher energy prices. This would reduce worldwide demand. This means many people would stop buying and driving SUV's. Hybrids would become much more cost effective. More people would take mass transit. Airconditioning and heaters would be used less, etc, etc.

The doomsday cultists are frustrated because oil is still cheaper than ever. Average gas prices have peaked at $2.25. In 1990 they peaked at $1.35 (both according to DOE). In 1990 median income was $14,387, in 2003 it was $23,276 (according to U.S. census). That means we should be around $24,300 right now.

So in 1990, the median person earned enough to buy 10,657 gallons of gas per year. This year it's 10,800 gallons.

And this analysis is actually understates how cheap gas is. Gas taxes are about 16 cents on average higher now than in 1990. Add another ten cents of MTBE requirements.

So gas is still cheap and plentiful and it drives those who believe in the coming apocalypse crazy.