Lifestyles

Mark Morford has a great column in todays sfgate. In it he speculates about our near future of petroleum deprivation. How will people react to 8 dollars per gallon? It seems that even though the price of crude is dropping (today anyway) the price at the pump is not expected to go down any time soon. CNNmoney offers Six Fixes for High Gasoline Prices. These fixes are rife with short-sightedness and are largely supply-side oriented. Most would be likely to have little impact at the pump, while some could have dramatic environmental impact. The article ends on a sage note:

The fact that these proposals have so many caveats, and would likely bring prices down only moderately or not at all, leaves some analysts saying there's not much the government can do to lower prices.

High gas prices are here to stay, and consumers are just going to have to bear the burden until they figure out how to use less fuel, they say.

""Like the president said, it's an addiction," said Lee Schipper, a visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley's Transportation Center. "There's going to be a time when going cold turkey hurts."

Moreover, even if the government could lower prices, it might not be in everyone's long-term interest.

"It's only when the price is high that people actually do things" to conserve, said Schipper. "Gas at $2 a gallon underprices the real cost to the environment and the nation."

Morford's speculation is entertaining, but here's what's happening NOW: People are driving less, driving more efficiently, and making better decisions about how to live. Hell, maybe we'll even get our rail and streetcar systems back.