The very first sentence shows this guy has no clue. How can demand for a finite resource be ever-growing? He might as well write, "Americans have realized that it is necessary to break the laws of physics." Just cause you want reality to change doesn't mean it will. Saying let's drill the last reserves is like saying "one more hit man, just one more hit is all I need".
“How can demand for a finite resource be ever-growing?”
Uh, because more people want some.
“Saying let’s drill the last reserves..”
Who says they are the last reserves? Peak oil nonsense. Oil is not an addiction, it is a commodity.
There's no economic law of which I'm aware that says demand for something cannot increase forever. We already have evidence of a 25,000 year history of an "ever-growing" demand for food. The rub comes with the ever-growing supply supply of a resource.
Umm... Demand is quite independent of supply. That's how economics works.
"Finite" describes the supply of a commodity, not the demand. There are plenty of commodities with high demand and lower (even "finite") supply. That's what makes them expensive. (Diamonds, Ferraris and Blu-Ray disc players are good examples) So, the author is quite correct in that regard.
However, I disagree with the sentence for another reason. The increasing price of gasoline is not "forcing" anyone to comprehend basic economics. A large chunk of government-educated voters (and even FReepers, sadly) are sure that the price of gasoline is just the result of a conspiracy among BIG OIL fat cats. Increasing prices are just making them hate capitalism and eeeeeeevil corporations more, not making them demand an increase in domestic oil production.
Second, even if the supply is finite, conservative estimates indicate that we have, right under our own soil and just off our shores, enough oil and natural gas to power our country for centuries - plenty of time to develop more efficient methods of utilizing oil and natural gas, and to develop other means of energy production.
And if it turns out that oil and natural gas ARE natural byproducts of geological reactions, and if it turns out that CO2 is NOT causing global warming (and there's more than a little evidence on that score), then the only "crisis" we face, is the imbeciles who insist that we hamstring ourselves on energy while the rest of the world passes us by.
The point is that there is absolutely NO reason for this energy "crisis" that we're seeing today, other than the fanatical, short-sighted, idiotic obstructions thrown up by environmentalists, liberals, and their democrat (and too many Republican) stooges in government.
Do you have any idea at all the amount of oil natural gas and coal that are off our shores and inside America there are and that our TRAITORS are keeping us from using? Enough to last us at least 1000 years at our current rate of use!