If Gasoline Hits 10 USD a Gallon
 

I'm kind of curious what all of you would think if gasoline were to hit $10/gal. Basically, would you be happy, sad, or indifferent?

The economy would collapse, which would make me sad to see people suffer more than they are already suffering. I go into a business and see few customers. Understanding the overhead, salaries, and the fact that business owners have virtually no safety net, it makes me very sad.
WE would be OK since we have retirement. It would hurt but we can adjust.
regards
Mech

The prices in Europe are essentially this high now; and have been for a while. They survive, and they get much more fuel efficient cars.

If oil gets a lot more expensive, that means that shipping everything from countries where they can make it cheap will be curtailed; eventually this will bring more jobs back home.

We might have to go back to better ways of doing things, it would be sad, we might also get better vehicles, but that would take a few years.

I'll have reason to buy another bike, at $10 a gallon it might finally pay and I won't have to lie to my wife.

Part of what prompted my asking this is that I work in a large office building (easily > 1,000 employees) and a VERY large parking lot is filled with cars every day. It got to the point where they had to start doing valet parking for anyone who showed up after 8 am. In addition, there are only four van pools (~ 28 people) for the entire building, and they are usually used only by employees who live more than 50 miles away.

Personally, I think people would adapt (they'd have to), but Old Mech's right... it might hurt.

I wouldn't change anything if gas hit $10, just like I wouldn't change anything if gas dropped down to $1 per gallon, only thing that I could see changing would be that we might start charging for mileage at work for over 50 miles.

At this very moment I would be mad. I deliver pizzas and I'm almost certain my gas reimbursement wouldn't cover 10 dollar gas. In the future I.e. 1 year, I wouldnt mind.

In you situation I think I would get a Sprinter and get it filled with riders using Craigslist. Maybe 15 passengers to spread out the cost, especially if I was one of those who had a long drive to work.

For personal use I would buy a Leaf for my wife and I to use locally.

It would definitely hurt, home values in rural areas would collapse beyond where they are now. Used car values would collapse. Two of the most valuable family assets, as well as the cost of transportation. Truckers would be dumping their rigs as they were when diesel hit $4 a gallon here in 2008.

regards
Mech

Personally I could easily live with very high gas prices, but realistically they would be catastrophic for many people especially those who are barely getting by today. Crime would explode as desperate people rationalized that they would be better off in prison.

I'ts climbing up here. The 7-eleven at the entrance to my neighborhood was at $3.449 for regular yesterday. Premium was close to $3.80. This summer it looks like we may hit $4 a gallon for the first time, and I am sure the tourist industry is scared stiff or the consequences of $4+, much less $10 a gallon. It ($10 a gal) would mean almost $600 billion more money leaving the US every year. That's 6 trillion in bank funding of the economy gone every year. Compare that to the gross national product and you have the recipe for another great depression. Inflation would skyrocket as people raced to raise their prices to cover costs of shipping. The airline industry would collapse.

regards
Mech