“Very high fuel prices are going to wreck the economy.”
That didn’t happen last time. People starting using less gas and traded their guzzlers for econoboxes. The price of oil collapsed from $147 to 27 in a few months.
Then everyone was mad about driving those econoboxes. They lost thousands trading cars to save a few hundred bucks on gas.
I gambled and bought my current gas guzzler car new back then at a huge discount. I lived close to work, so gas prices weren't a big deal.
In my area new and used cars are fairly sparse, so there aren't many econoboxes available to immediately trade down to or buy outright.