As more Americans become resigned to the possibility of paying $5 for a gallon for gas, they are driving less and seriously considering chucking their gas guzzlers, according to a poll released Monday.
The poll, conducted by CNN/Opinion Research, shows that 86% of respondents believe gas prices will top $5 a gallon sometime this year. That compares to 78% in April and 28% in May of last year.
To cope with higher gas prices, 66% of those surveyed said they are cutting back on the amount of driving they do and 71% indicated that they are considering buying a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
But the effects of high gas prices go beyond driving habits. The poll also shows that 55% of respondents are cutting back significantly on household spending.
If we are pushed far enough, people will eventually make it so that we don't need Saudi and OPEC's oil. That has them scared:
Saudi Arabia will call for a summit between oil producing countries and consumer states to discuss soaring energy prices, Information and Culture Minister Iyad Madani said Monday.
The kingdom will also work with OPEC to "guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future," the minister said following the weekly Cabinet meeting, held in the seaport city of Jiddah.
You see, the Saudi's and OPEC know that if we decide that we are tired of dealing with their bullshit, we're going to go towards conservation, alternative fuels, and GASP, electric vehicles. If that happens, they'll only be able to sell to the Indians and Chinese. Sooner or later, they'll have no customers to buy their oil. If that happens, you have a complete collapse of their economy, as a large portion of their income comes from oil revenues.
They are investing heavily in other industries, but once ignored for their oil, people will be very leery about dealing with them for much of anything else. Terrorism fears, their reputation as being a bully, as well as rebuffing President Bush's call for more oil to offset the costs is showing them in a particularly negative light.
But they're not the only ones who's to blame for the high costs we face today.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward has played down the prospect that the surge in oil may unwind anytime soon as the industry's lack of investment in production capacity catches up with it.
"Producers are being hampered by 25 years of low investments, because of low prices," Mr Hayward told the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur today. "The result is a supply chain being stretched to breaking point."
Crude oil surged on Friday to a record $139.12 a barrel in New York, although it had eased off to trade at $137 early on Monday.
Fears about the ability of the oil industry to quickly tap new reserves come on top of existing forecasts that the world will exhaust its oil supplies in the next half century.
These oil companies are having a problem in that now they haven't done the reinvestment that was necessary for all businesses. High prices are going to make anyone look at alternatives. Microsoft is a big example. When they started charging $400 for a copy of Office, people started flocking to Open Office when it became viable.
Now, electric vehicles are becoming more and more of a good alterative. If a car company comes out with an electric vehicle that has the ability to go long distances, you can bet that they'll sell TONS of them, and oil prices will start to come down drastically.
Even Obama is pissed at prices, but I think he's going at it the wrong way:
Launching a two-week focus on the economy after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama drew a sharp contrast between his economic policies and those of John McCain, his Republican rival in the November election.
"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills," the Illinois senator said.
Obama charged that McCain's support for extending President George W. Bush's tax cuts means he is in favor of $2 trillion in corporate tax breaks, including $1.2 billion for Exxon Mobil Corp.
"If John McCain's policies were implemented, they would add $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That isn't fiscal conservatism, that's what George Bush has done over the last eight years," Obama said.
If Obama did the same thing with say Coca Cola, people would be scratching their heads and wondering if Obama had suffered a brain aneurysm or something.
But, since we are addicted to oil, everyone seems to be on task to throwing these companies under the proverbial bus.
What I think we SHOULD do, is get ourselves so unbelievable off of oil, that OPEC and other importers of oil would take drastic measures. First off, require that all cars manufactured after 2015 get at LEAST 45 mpg. All trucks less then 10,000 pounds get 25mpg or more.
All car manufacturers are then requires to produce at least one electric vehicle capable of 150 miles on a charge with the ability to fuel past that, ala the Volt.
Sooner or later, we WILL run out of oil people. It's just a matter of when. If we don't take drastic measures as soon as possible, we will be facing an even bigger problem later on down the road.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather it be painful now, then fatal later.
Travis
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