Ten years? LOL. We are not ignoring alternatives. We don't need the USG picking winners and losers. Look at the ethanol debacle and its unintended consequences. Let the marketplace decide, not government.
We are not going to wean ourselves off of oil and gasoline anytime soon. There is a vast infrastructure out there that supports the use of oil and gasoline to fuel our economy, including the internal combusion engine. Millions of cars, planes, trucks, buses, etc. will be around longer than 10 years.
And then there is the matter of population growth. We have added 100 million people since 1970 and will add another 167 million by 2060, most of it due to immigration, legal and illegal. So, in a space of 90 years we will have added 267 million people going from a nation of 200 million to one of 467 million. If we have an amnesty, those figures will go much higher, i.e., by at least 100 million more. We will have to run to stand still.
High oil prices spur innovation. I didn't ask for high oil prices or a depressed dollar but it is what I have to work with. I celebrate because we have a chance to finally kill the domination of oil.
Cheap energy is the lifeblood of an economy. An economy in the doldrums will hurt inovation. The high energy costs is really a regressive tax hurting those at the bottom far more. It also consumes discretionary income, which has a ripple effect throughout the economy hurting almost all businesses. Less consumption will send the economy into a downward spiral that will be hard to recover from, especially with an aging population that will place our faltering entitlement systems into bankruptcy. The entitlement programs represent an unfunded liability of more than $60 trillion. The perfect storm is coming. Rising energy costs are just part of it.
Dominion Power of VA just announced that its rates will be going up 18% in July and more increases will follow next year and the year after. Those increases will affect businesses and the consumer. You may celebrate it, but the reality is that this economy is going into a steep, downward spiral.
And that is the negative view. Be optimistic: alternative enrgy sources will spur growth, eliminate dependence on foreign sources, and create a whole economy on replacing existing infrastructure.
You can view everything as half-empty or half-full. It is your choice on the mindset but I prefer looking at the world as a positive place. We are in the greatest times in the history of humanity and fuel prices going up will do nothing but propel us forward.