[CMAC51]

...High energy prices also have an unforeseen bright side, forcing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions and delivering the encouraging message that, although we might not regain the freewheeling way of life that came with cheap gasoline, we have more ability to shape our fates than the caricature of the soft, spoiled American implied.

These are the words of a fool. At any time in history, the key to an increase in prosperity is the harnessing and utilization of energy. Whether it be the use of fire for heat and to provide light, extending the workday, to later forging steel for the plow, the hammer and the saw, steam for locomotives, gasoline for cars, trucks and tractors, or electricity for computers, harnessing energy to amplify the yield from brain and muscle power is the key to prosperity. A decline in energy utilization means a decline in prosperity, period. Demand for energy is down because the country is in a recession, recognized or not, and without a significant increase in available energy, the world is headed for a depression.

The soft spoiled American is vital to the world economy. Just as the thousand people working at the Waldorf Astoria depend on the decadent clientele for their jobs, the developing economies of the world depend on American consumption to drive the growth in their economies.

The future is straight forward. Increase the supply of available economic energy or watch the world fall into a global depression.

[MrB]

Prosperity allows everyone to live in the (nearly/relatively) same luxury and comfort as the elites,

and this p’s them off to no end.