I'm reading a book called "The Long Emergency" which give a very dire prediction of the world economy (and thus playing nicely into my doomsday scenarios) and it blames oil as the main culprit. I must say this makes a lot of sense to me. The book lays out the argument that our whole economy and well being: food, cars, plastics, everything rests on the foundation of cheap oil. If this were to be taken out of the equation then our economy would be very, very different. Then the book says that we are currently at the peak of oil production, that all the oil that is going to be found, has been and that we are consuming the last half of what's left and demand is rising as well and at an ever increasing clip thanks to us and China. This last half of oil is going to be the harder half to get. It will take more energy to pump it out of the ground and we probably won't get every last drop of it, especially if it takes a barrel to get a barrel. Add to this the fact that most of the remaining oil is in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran then you being to get the picture that we're in for a rough ride. This last week (and today) the stock market is reacting negatively to the rise in the price per barrel of oil. It is now above $60 ($60.70) and as the future markets are predicting, it'll stay there for a year. This rise in the price of oil will greatly impact our economy. It'll be like being slowly sanded down. It will affect everything. Here are some fun predictions:
- SUVs will become evil(er). Driving one will cause one to take their life in thier own hands as people will vandalize them openly
- Sales of bicycles will skyrocket
- Revival of the Mother Earth News
- Suburbs will become ghost towns
- Office buildings will become obsolete and too expensive to run and cities will suffer as commuters are no longer able to commute
- Airplane travel will be a luxury reserved for the rich
- Big box stores including grocery stores will dwindle
- Self reliance will be in vogue and family farming will become a necessity
