i don't even look at the price for gasoline anymore.

[KG]

because nobody that matters cares about how much big a bite this is putting on us poor working class slobs. no use getting pissed about it, nothing will be done. i'm getting hosed, with out even a reach around.

i recall, during other gas price hikes, the trucking industry would threaten strikes, politicians would call for investigations, conservation would be in vogue.

this time, not a peep from anybody.

this country has surrendered. down for the count. it is prostrate.

just another signal to the neo-cons that they can do whatever the fuck they want, coz nobody that matters, esp the dem party, will lift a finger, raise a voice, to stop them.

things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Why not a peep?

Because this time, it's the start of the Final Plunge.

We're at or over the oil hump. From here on in, production will be down. Industry and government both understand that we have precious little time to find a way around the economic and social disaster that will happen when the prices of petrochemical fuels double, and double again, and again, and again, over the next generation.

Nobody's saying anything about it -- who wants to go on record as saying that they lied for 40 years, dragged their feet, and pretended that nothing was wrong?

The stakes are higher now. General affluence may be gone for a century or more. The next set of shocks, we know, will hit when we can no longer extract as much ammonium nitrate from natural gas rocovery. That ammonium nitrate is the fertilizer needed by the "Green Revolution" crops that feed four billion people. When famine comes to Asia, Islam will rally its starving faithful to their final Jihad. And on top of that, we still have a chaotically changing climate to deal with.

Not a peep now. But there are still more than six billion screams to be heard.

--p!

[KG]

2. this country, as a society, has decided to consume,consume, consume

and the consequnces be damned.


i am very pessimistic about the future. nobody that matters seem to believe there is one beyond next week-end.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. We're adaptable

The economic system, on the other hand, is not. And I think that is what will bring it down -- adaptation isn't sufficiently profitable.

I don't have a lot of spleen for other people. They're not sheeple, psychopaths, Freepers, or anything else we can think of to damn them. When times get hard, it becomes impossible to "thing" your neighbors. Hard times cure a lot of idiocy. The price, however, tends to be high -- poverty, despair, ruin.

The problems are what political scientists sometimes call "structural". We're hyper-consumers because it's the only system we have, and it takes a major effort to detatch from that.

Having endured illness and long stretches of unemployment in my adult life, I will have fewer changes to make, and I've made most of them already, in an age of affluence. It is difficult to watch a world of nice things, "cool toys", and upscale digs pass you by, but I was able to do it.

In the near future, nearly everyone will have to watch The American Dream slip beyond their grasp, forever. But it won't be so bad. Once the die-off passes, the survivors among us will look back on it as being a nightmare of see-sawing between panic attacks and cheap, mass-produced pleasures.

Mental preparation is much more important than physical preparation. I know a bunch of people are trying to prepare for these economic changes, but it will still come down to how well they are able to cope personally.

Humanity is worth saving. Our current socio-economic system isn't. The next system we build will have to be a lot better if we want to maintain a vital, active civilization.

--p!

[tech3149]

3. I can understand your indifference

but I've been on a total economy kick for the last few years. (that happens when your unemployed) I've been getting about 3-5 mpg better than the EPA mileage estimates through intelligent driving on my 98 Civic. If you hear some of the truckers calling Thom Hartmann or Randi Rhodes, they aren't happy about fuel prices, but they know there's not much they can do. I wanted to go to NY this weekend to meet up with Mike Malloy and other DUer's, but I don't think I can spare the cost. The gas prices here aren't CA level, but it would put a real hit to the wallet. The people in power now are too closely associated with the oil industry so they only see the up-side of higher prices.

[Paintedlady]

4. I agree, things are going to get worse

Don't know about the getting better part though.
I'm getting hit twice by the rising fuel prices. I travel to work in my pickup and then work my own semi truck.
Nothing much will happen because independent truckers are not allowed to organize. We are considered management and can't strike. Most independent truckers are so strapped for money these days that they couldn't park their rigs even if they wanted to. The companies that lease your truck don't care about the trucker paying higher fuel prices because they still get the same cut.
There's going to be a lot of big shiny trucks repossessed soon.

[RubyCat]

5. People can't protest when they're working two jobs and raising a family.

Unions have been weakened to the point where no one dares speak out for fear of losing their job to outsourcing. The situation was similar during the Great Depression where people were worked hard and paid the absolute minimum required just to live. If they complained, there was a long line of unemployed people outside desperate to take their place.

Besides, do you really expect the media to cover any protests? They sure conveniently looked the other way when the world-wide anti-war protests took place March 19th. The media has been so thoroughly manipulated now: keep the people distracted from the serious economic problems of the nation with a steady diet of Michael Jackson, American Idol, J-Lo, and other silliness.

[Wonk]

7. Look on the bright side, we're not buying gas in Europe.

When you convert from Euros to Dollars and liters to gallons, Europeans are paying about $6-8 / gal for unleaded.

[seabeyond]

8. hey kg

let mecount the things i have said this about in the last two days. i have so had this feeling also. you said much bettr than i was able to say. you are right. this is just what it feels like. i amd syaing things out loud, and saying just 5 years ago we would have been bothered. now, no one says a thing

[spindoctor]

9. I always thought that a $2+ gas price would bring revolution

but nooooo...

Maybe it is time to consider economy-size, 4-cylinder and a stick. You know, like the rest of the world?