True, I'd love to see more of a future in rail but it seems that all they ever do is just fix up old tracks. It's the cleanest way to transport goods and we should use it way more often.

I saw a program on PBS (I think) a few weeks ago. It was about wealth and money. In it they traced the source of high gas prices last year. Supply and demand didn't change much, yet the price of oil more than doubled. It was caused by oil speculators, aka wall street.

was that about the time all the theories came out about the supply running out within the next 10 years or so?

I remember them talking about us sliding down the side of the bell curve into an oil shortage.

that was before demand fell like a rock as well.

the "official" #s from DOT say otherwise, at least on the demand side. with manipulation of stats who really knows?

if your point has validation, it just proves that higher prices do NOT effectively lower consumption. the rich still drive as just as much, and the rest of us especially those w/out mass transit can only reduce so much.

if demand is in fact down, it's likely related to the recession.

BEEF:"was that about the time all the theories came out about the supply running out within the next 10 years or so?"
There have been theories that the oil supply will run out in X years for the past 20 years or more. Reality shows that as oil supply dwindles the price goes up, and it becomes profitable to drill for oil in less accessible areas. In other words, there are oil reserves available that are not profitable right now.
Maybe someday in the future it'll be profitable to squeeze oil out of tar-laden sand. I just hope the price of gas doesn't go over $50 per gallon before those sources become profitable.

Have you ever heard of Pismo Beach? Pismo is the local native (aka Indian) word for 'tar'. The beach was named for the globs of tar that routinely wash up on the beach. There's oil out there, but what does it take to get it?

Even longer than 20 years... I'm 37, and I can remember as a kid in the late 70's being told that there will be no oil left by the time I learned to drive. Well, I learned to drive in 1987, and we're now 22 years past the point where I was originally told we'd "run out". The whole oil's running out is just a way for the left to cry "The sky is falling" to try and get their way. That's the way I see it. Every day we are finding more and more sources of oil. Now the cheap/easy sources may run out, and the price will go up as we go for harder to reach deposits, but its not running out anytime soon. Oil will be replaced when we find something cheaper. Plain & simple.

-Jay

that was more my point. they have been theorizing about when the oil will run out for years. when the hype gets up high enough, the price of gas goes up. mostly spawned by people that are scared.

that is when you get the crazies that buy a huge sealed container and fill it with gas because they don't think it will be available next week.

The problem of taxing the truckers is that they have to pass that on to YOU the consumer so SHUTUP ALREADY!! You take from your own pocket!!! The real problem is that the DPW are not fixing the roads properly when they do fix them and then they just break apart again. Route 24 south of 195 in Fall River developed about 50 pot holes in a 1 mile stretch of road all of a sudden early this winter. Ya think something was not a little screwy when they paved that section of road a few years ago?

fantastic point! i worked a short stint w/ the roads dept in my local public works a few years ago. anyway, a VERY large(and cheap) contract was given to pavers to upgrade the entire county of unpaved roads.

not only was it VERY poorly done, but the county itself decided to re-ditch along side them TEARING UP THE JUST PAVED STREETS! heavy equipment is unkind to fresh, soft asphault!

THIS is the quintessential model of gov't spending: double dipping, and in this case double screwing up.

Kinda' says it all IMO!