If and when gas prices reach $7/gallon, as predicted...?

Question

speculators are predicting that gas prices (inevitably) will soon be reaching as high or up to $7 a gallon by year 2010. it looks like to be that prices will only get even higher from thereon. this should not come as a surprise as these very same speculators were once predicting that we would be paying around $4/gal by 2008...and they were dead-on accurate!! but my question to you is: "Should we at all be worrying ourselves to death due to this impending chaos?" even with prices inflated over the ones from past years, wouldnt things even out so that people can actually end up affording those necessities (food/water, gas, clothes, etc.) such as through getting paid more at your job than before? are we facing a second round of the classic Great Depression? will we all be driving priuses by 2010 (dear god! i hope that isnt so)?

Answer 1

The next president of the US will have to contend with a economy that will be in ruins.  I expect all our living standards will go down

Answer 2

What will happen is Darwinism in its purest form, "Survival of the fittest"

Answer 3

I stopped driving when it hit $2 a gallon and started taking the bus. Those in this country put way too much emphasis on automobile ownership.

Answer 4

Get over yourself.  And dont take what people/economists say as scripture.  Remember, they are trying to "predict" the future.  However, no one knows what the future holds.

Also, we can look to history (recent history) for answers how our economy is going to deal with high gas prices.  Remember, our economy is vastly different from the 1920's when the great depression started.

The current price of oil is unsubstantiated.  There is no reason for $145 a barrol of oil, other than a weak dollar and speculation.  Therefore, when we get through our economic slump (remember we are not in a recession, yet) the fed will raise interest rates which will cause the dollar to rise, and in turn bring oil down a bit.  Also, if you look at the whole housing market mess, home prices rose to fast in a few years, thereby creating a "bubble" that has just burst.  The same is true about oil.  When the "bubble" bursts, oil will come back down to earth.

Coupled with a stronger dollar and a burst in the "oil bubble," gas prices should come down right around the time of our economic recovery.  And judging by our recent economic history, we should enter a recovery period at the end of this year, or at the begining of the next year.

Remember, before you believe all those "gloom and doom" predictions, consider their motivation for a moment.  Do you think that they would be on tv is they said everything was okay?  Of course NOT!