"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Mar 2008 14:32:58 -0800 (PST),
wrote:
Everyone says 4 dollars... I will throw my prediction in, I think we
will test 5 dollars a gallon before the end of the year.
I'll take that bet. I'll say that gas will be back at $2.34/gal by
the end of the year.
And oil will be down around $60/bl.
I don't know about that. There's nothing on the horizon to influence it
that way. I'd like to hear your reasoning.
In a way, I think it would be good for oil to hover around $100 a barrel for
a couple of years or more. In the past, every time there has been a sharp
uptick in the price of oil a bunch of lip service has been given to finding
energy "alternatives" and to decrease or eliminate our dependence on oil.
But, as soon as the price retreats back to half of the increase, all the
enthusiasm goes away and it's back to business as usual.
The current spike in oil prices has produced some serious commitments by
industry (more so than governments) to develop alternative energy sources.
(the government still thinks "corn" is the answer). The auto industry is
tripping over themselves introducing high mileage hybrids. There is a
serious revival of interest and new developments in solar power that are
very promising and exciting. I was just reading about a new auto soon to
be introduced by Volkswagen that is a diesel/electric hybrid (catches my
attention!) that offers very good performance while delivering 60+ mpg.
For the first time, it seems like the consuming public is having a mind set
change and are beginning to accept and even demand highly efficient
products. There's even a growing acceptance of the need for new nuclear
power plants.
We really can't afford to screw up again and treat this oil price cycle as
another temporary event because the next cycle will probably put us out of
business.
Eisboch