Could high oil prices be a blessing in disguise

[OmahaBlueDog]

It hurts families, and drives up the prices of food, clothing, travel -- you name it. It will cause job losses and further economic slowdown.

But high gas prices will force us to finally address consumption and substitution. Ending dependence on foreign oil could do amazing things for our economy, our environment, and our security.

OTOH, a lot of parts of our nation and the world depend on oil revenue.

Seriously, what do you think?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I voted "I don't know"

While I agree there's an upside, I prefer to have these issues addressed without the need for a catastrophe. Unfortunately, as I well know, that's not how politics work.

[lutefisk]

2. I'm not a believer in people suffering for their own good. . .n/t

[shain from kane]

3. I just need to see who is benefiting from it. That is enough to piss me off.

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. I know T Boone Pickens benefits from high oil prices

.. and he's about to invest in a huge wind project.

[begin_within]

4. Anything that gets people out of their cars and reduces fossil fuel burning is a good thing.

[David__77]

6. Other answer, "Yes. Higher oil prices help the developing world economies."

My concern is not for energy conservation; indeed, the developing countries need to consume more not less energy in order to develop and eliminate extreme poverty. High oil price, in the aggregate, help the developing countries and help to reduce the global economic polarization. This contributes to peace and stability.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The blessing is for the rich

Their additional costs for fuel will be past to the consumer in their businesses, food and fuel costs are not a significant part of their home budget, lower property prices mean less taxes for them. Economic Terror of the middle class means that class is more susceptible to authoritarian manipulation.

They will continue to say they are for a 'green' clean economy but will be blocking it behind the scenes.

[Virginia Dare]

15. That's so very true..

I knew we were royally screwed when the corporatocracy started to market "going green" for the masses. They'll profit on us as much as they can before we all sink into the quicksand.

[mike_c]

8. unfortunately, I think yes....

Americans and their political leadership-- not to mention big oil and the rest of the energy industry-- have never been willing to make the hard choices that would have avoided some of the problems high fuel costs are just beginning to cause today. We've known this day is coming for DECADES. Anyone who is surprised was really not paying attention. And yet we did little or nothing to prepare for it, and arguably some of the preparatory measures we did take were utterly disasterous and only compounded the problem, i.e. military misadventures in the middle east.

[Hydra]

9. No

Because it's not forcing change- most people would like to quit using oil if there was a clean and less expensive solution...it's our rulers who aren't on board with that idea.

Meanwhile, People like me are starving trying to pay for gas to get to work.

Pardon me while I puke- the people who aren't hurting DARE call it a "blessing."

[OmahaBlueDog]

10. Hydra, if I may ask

1. How far is your commute?
2. Are you in an area where there is a viable mass transport alternative, or another alternative like a motorcycle or a bicycle? (I'm guessing "no", or you'd be using another means of transport)

[Hydra]

14. You guessed right

1) 20 miles each way
2) No. Mass transit in the town I work at, not outside. No public transport in my home city.

I can't afford to live in the town I work in, so I'm stuck paying for gas to get to where I work, where I get the privilege of paying the gov't for the privilege of working(even though I am taking care of a disabled relative).

I get to pay to be a slave, and then I get to pay more. And then I have to put up with idiots that think this will push us to alternative energy. Pardon my temper resulting :evilgrin:

[dysfunctional press]

20. how is it that you"pay the gov't for the privilege of working"...?

:shrug:
i've never heard of that type of arrangement before.

[Hydra]

26. Taxes

Even though I am taking care of a disabled relative, they still want 15% of my income. Seeing as I make less than $20,000, I consider that paying for the privilege of being a wage slave.

[L. Coyote]

11. Invest in wind power!

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. Wind power hurts migratory birds!

I seem to recall a congressperson from WVA making this point recently.

[L. Coyote]

27. Invest in solar!!

if you got birds.

[Virginia Dare]

13. Unfortunately, the rich will make sure that the poor suffer first and worst..

I guess in that sense there's not a real upside to it.

In the long run, having to give up our addiction to oil is probably a good thing, but we're going to have to go through a hell of a withdrawal process first.

[lonestarnot]

16. Rich and the WTO, World Bank and IMF.

[Hydra]

17. We could switch to something else pretty easily

The people benefiting are getting in the way, though. The same with the Iraq invasion.

The poor will suffer horribly, though. I know, first-hand.

[Fovea]

18. Better the sucker punch

than the death of a thousand paper cuts.

It isn't as though serious people have not been trying to prepare for oil scarcity since the 1970s.

If we don't change the energy paradigm, we will destroy the world both with oil, and in the mad dash for the last pump-able bits of it.

[Mountainman]

19. I ride a bus to work. It's called the "Clean Air Express". I ride 140 miles a day. Everytime the

prices go up a couple more people ride our bus. It runs on natural gas. I guess the high prices do have some positive effects.

[KillCapitalism]

21. No

High oil prices are really fucking the poor right now.

[taught_me_patience]

22. As a nation

we simply refuse to conserve out of our own free will. High oil prices will force people to conserve by hitting them right in the pocket books.

[OmahaBlueDog]

23. Quite honestly, I'm against the gas tax holiday

Seriously -- kick anyone interested $1000 bucks tax credit (in addition to what's already out there) for purchase of a hybrid.

[varelse]

24. High oil prices are killing poor people worldwide

for me, there is no "upside" that could compensate for that. Now, if we (the non-poor) could get together and prevent the largest cost from being paid in blood by the poorest among us, then YES, maybe the "upside" would become visible, instead of being buried under a burden of unevenly borne, hellish suffering.

[OhioChick]

25. A Blessing for the Wealthy...

While the poor and middle class get screwed.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

28. Society as a whole needs a good kick in the teeth.

Unfortunately, there is rarely a way to get people to wake up without hurt going on. People suffering for their own good is fucked up, of course, but at this point, there is nothing we can do other than try to make worthwhile investments as fast as we can. Oil isn't going back down, and I don't even know if I think it should anymore either. If it did go down, artificially or by some act of god, people would ditch everything about alternative energy. Humans as a whole don't like to change something that is working.

So really, it is a pity that it had to happen this way, but I think that we are essentially past the point of no return for abundant oil and oil dependence. It will suck ass too, and alot of people are going to hurt because of it.