[kidd]

I say it’s better to have the high prices now so that the market directs us towards something else. We’ll need the oil still in the ground for the transitory period, so we’d better not blow through it by trying to kick the problem further down the road.

Perhaps.

You assume that the government will allow the free market to develop alternate energy rather than to use this price crunch as an opportunity to force us into greater government dependency. Will high prices force the government to allow breeder reactors? Coal gasification? Shale oil extraction? Or will the government insist that we reverse economic growth for the sake of some environmental hoax?

[MinnesotaLibertarian]

No, I don’t assume the government will stay out of the way; in fact, I’m frightened they’ll screw it up. However, right now while they just argue about gas prices and drilling an don’t actually do anything, it’s ideal.

The government does need to lift many of it’s restrictions, especially on nuclear power. It can lift the restrictions on drilling too, but we need to focus way beyond that. You mention an “environmental hoax”, by which I’m assuming you mean global warming/cooling/climate change/whatever they’re calling it today. That’s not my concern. My concern is that oil is a fossil fuel that we’re eventually going to run out of, and countries like China and India are rapidly using more and more. This is why prices are headed sky high and why drilling more at home will barely be a drop in the bucket.

We need to change the way we’re living. I don’t have faith in government to figure out how and I certainly don’t want them to force us. However, we’re headed for economic catastrophe if we don’t accept that cheap energy is a thing of the past and we need to adjust.