Posted on 05/18/2008 12:14:41 PM PDT by BulletBobCo
Drivers will likely need to become comfortable with gas at $4 a gallon, as oil experts say an era of historic pain at the pump will endure well beyond the Memorial Day weekend, when prices traditionally peak.
You might trade in that GMC Yukon for a Honda Civic, skip the highway for the bike lane and redefine that time-honored tradition of the road trip. Americans are already reordering their Memorial Day weekends, with AAA predicting a decrease in travel for the first time since 2002.
But those changes might not be enough to immediately pull down a gasoline market that follows the whims of the world economy. Newfound wealth fills pockets of the globe once known for overwhelming poverty, and for the first time prices are responding to their thirst for fuel as much as demand in America.
The new world order for petroleum markets has some analysts predicting far higher prices ahead. Gasoline in the U.S. could reach $7 a gallon because more drivers in India and China will hit the road even as American oil consumption retreats, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce predicts.
"Millions of new households will suddenly have straws to start sucking at the world's rapidly shrinking oil reserves," wrote CIBC analyst Jeff Rubin.
The forces behind the oil boom include the emergence of China and India as economic powers, exhausted fields controlled by nationalized companies, and market speculation that could be pushing prices higher than supply and demand can justify. While industry insiders dispute how much each of these factors contributes to oil prices, many expect the high prices to last for years.
"It's not going to be a one-year blip and go away like the Internet bubble," said Joseph Dancy, who manages the LSGI Venture Fund in Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
She’s doing a lot more for our country than you are.
What alternative do you propose???/
Sorry Monk, but I think i have seniority :)
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