High gas prices will result in some interesting problems:
* more people will shop for bargains online, rather than traveling from store to store * delivery charges will be reasonable compared to the cost picking it up yourself * home gardening and locally grown food will enjoy a resurgence * people will think twice about drives to the beach or to the lake * going for a Sunday drive is a sure sign of wealth * if your neighbor fills up his SUV at one visit to the pump, he is probably making more money than you are * you may see some unlikely people - bankers, lawyers, doctors - use the gas crunch to justify commuting by motorcycle * some smart commuters will get their daily exercise commuting by bicycle * people will need second jobs to stay afloat - most will create new businesses online to earn that extra income * small restaurants will suffer first as more workers shift lunch money to gas tanks * fast food places will suffer next as prices of oil run up food prices * over the next few years, temporary dips in oil prices will not be long-lived enough to let Americans drive huge cars and trucks again - SUVs will be the Cadillacs with fins of the 21st Century * oil supply increases will be sopped up by China and India * alternative sources of energy will be great businesses but will not dethrone big oil * Florida will be unhappy when offshore oil wells appear near their coastline in the Gulf of Mexico * the placement and construction of new oil refineries will be hot political topics and push abortion and gay marriage off the political table * politicians, as usual, will screw things up then demand more tax revenue to fix the problems they created in the first place
Just a few of the issues I believe will dominate the economic and political landscape over the next 10 years. With any luck, it will bring back some of the lean, mean, fighting spirit of the American people - but only if the politicians are pushed out of the way.
