I’m with Slocala. I remember the 70’s where we were told that oil wouldn’t last through the 20th century. I also remember being told that eggs were bad because of cholesterol. Also remember being told that margarine was healthier than butter. I remember Al Gore and his dire predictions that were supposed to have occurred by now. And finally, I remember Y2K and being told to start hoarding essential because they wouldn’t be available. Not biting on crap like this anymore without substantiation
We do not consume only oil extracted from the US. Further, we do not extract to the full capacity of our industrial complex, so it is unlikely that the US runs out of oil in 5 years. That said, I agree that we should: Raise federal gas tax immediately. End tax breaks for oil exploration. Follow through on the Biden policies that make sense, including not selling off electric vehicles and stop suing states for emission standards. In short, stop electing Republicans.
FYI, Peak Oil doesn’t mean we’ll run out of oil, only that it will be the apex of oil production. For instance, switching to EVs could drive peak oil with there being no bearing on remaining oil reserves.
We actually did hit “peak oil” in the 70’s. Only fracking changed that. There was like a 30 year gap between a new peak in U.S. peak oil production until fracking started bringing new records (fracking addressed our reliance on foreign oil, but it was never going to last for forever - drill drill drill just means you blow through it faster). In either case this is a sensationalized headline, it’s not like there will be NO oil in 5 years, and I doubt too many in the 70’s were saying there’d be no oil to find anywhere in the world either - but production might peak once again causing more volatility.
I know I’ve read articles about EV usage already driving down gasoline demand in a measurable way, so in terms of domestic consumption this peak might already be happening (or have happened) on the consumption side. Though I’ve also read articles that EV sales are sort of plateauing, so i wouldnt quite spike the football on that yet.
Peak Oil is a mostly meaningless term, a catchphrase The parties that promote such an idea are work an agenda, their own agenda. I never discount the ingenuity of humans to figure things out and make them work. Catch phrases like peak oil only exist to manipulate public opinion so as to allow it to allow their government to fleece them and waste the tax revenue to “save” something. The worst part is how many people buy the horseshit and sit by and watch the same people who lied to them line their pockets with taxpayer $.
As I explained on other threads about this very topic, you could easily more than compensate the working poor by alternating minimum wage increases by $0.25/hr and $0.50/hr every year. The income of a 40 hr/wk minimum wage worker would increase by $500 - $1000 every year, while the gas tax increases would take away $100 a year or less. The working poor would see their take-home wages increase by $400 - $900 every year. I suspect they won't complain about that. I won't argue against jacking up jet fuel costs, but I didn't mention that because it will not solve this problem. There is nowhere near as much private jet fuel use as there is passenger vehicle usage. Your approach ignores over 99% of the problem in the hopes that the problem will solve itself. And I am not a democrat. I am a conservative republican, which means that I prefer to conserve natural resources than destroy them. If that requires having new or larger taxes, then bring 'em on.
Tell us about the ingenuity of the humans to figure things out in 1973 during the oil embargo. How did that go? The only thing that saved us was the greed of the OPEC countries and their inability to maintain a cap on their production. The oil embargo and the Vietnam War were the two main drivers of inflation and high interest rates (peaking at 16% mortgage rates) in the late 70's. Is that how you would like us to make this "work"? And I doubt that any politician in any era of the U.S. could line their pockets with taxpayer money as much as Donald J. Trump has.
Europe has understood and dealt with this problem for decades. They have very high taxes on fuel as well as electricity. It is normal for Germans, for example, to pay $1.50 per liter ($5.50/gal) for fuel when the price of oil is low. I visited Germany in the summer of 2008, before the bottom dropped out of the global economy. I paid $9.19/gal for fuel. Germans currently pay $0.61/Kw-h for electricity, which is about double what the residents of the most expensive state pay here. They are highly motivated to conserve both fuel and electricity. And they understand that the taxes are necessary for humanity to survive. They aren't big complainers or whiners like MAGA republicans are.
Because MAGA republicans want to own the libs, even if they have to burn down America to do it. That's where their priorities are.
I mentioned that we would start importing oil in five years--I did not imply that we would run out of oil completely.
While I have always been for things like gas taxes or carbon taxes - which makes sense for a variety of reasons, ultimately we seem to adapt and technology bails us out. My guess is yet again they find more ways to get more oil out. But worst case scenario, they don’t, oil prices goes up and EVs or maybe even hydrogen vehicles start to look more attractive. I’ve been through (and bought in to) various iterations of peak oil enough times in my lifetime to color me skeptical.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Ive heard both of those jokes since oh idk, nigh on 50 years... Punchline hasn't changed for either.
According to Algore, the world was supposed to spontaneously combust like 15 years ago... I'll believe this, after that happens... Btw... pull my finger... Lol!
