[Jim-Bob]

I saw this two days ago on Fox News and it scares the hell out of me. I don't have a decent career and depend on pizza delivery for my sole source of income. The end of reasonably priced energy will mean desperate poverty for me with no way out. I am already having a difficult time affording food, fuel, insurance, taxes, etc. When people in my situation suddenly can't eat, well then you can expect mass civil unrest as we will have nothing to lose. Now I am not one for violence and likely would not participate in any lawlessness but you can be damn sure that I am in the minority. If it happens suddenly then you had better be living far away from civilization and be well armed to protect yourself from all of the working class people who will suddenly be very poor, very hungry and very desperate.

It's also very important to realize just how dependent on petroleum-derived hydrocarbons our culture is. Do we need to migrate to something else? Sure we do. However, taking them away quickly will absolutely destroy our lives as we know them. It's not just vehicle fuels as that accounts for only bout 50% of our oil consumption. It's things like food packaging, medical supplies, computers and roofing too. What we need then is an orderly, gradual shift in our technologies and the time to do so. Rapid loss of oil will lead to chaos and anarchy. Do I think people should buy gigantic, inefficient land tanks like the Toyota Highlander or Cadillac Escalade in huge numbers? No. It's irresponsible for that to continue because those people are only expediting the loss of oil and reducing the time we have to replace it.

Above all though it is the poor and working class that will suffer most. The poor typically rely on older technologies and used cars for transportation. They can't afford to own and service a new car and in many cases have poor credit. These lower income people rely on picking the bones of the middle class by going to junkyards for used parts to keep these cars going. A sudden loss of fuel would not be a mere inconvenience to them that forces them to buy a new car. That is what the middle and upper classes will do. No, it will pretty much wipe out their lives. Remember, the US does not have good public transportation outside of the big cities. So, lets work to find a good alternative for the future but let's hope and pray that it happens slowly rather than rapidly.