I don’t think its a secret to anyone that gas prices are painfully high for us Americans these days. Yes, I know, we pay nothing in comparison to much of Europe, but I’m not addressing that difference in this post. Sitting in my car in LA traffic, wasting lots of that really expensive gas, I began to wonder just how much high gas prices are going to force us to change how we live in this country. I also wonder if maybe the high cost of gas could have a silver lining to it.
The high prices have already started to force people to adjust how they live their typical lives. There’s been a great deal of anecdotal evidence that people are starting to drive less to try to conserve gas and save money. People are trying to find alternative modes of transportation like carpooling or riding their bikes to work. Sales of SUVs and trucks are down, while demand for smaller, more gas efficient vehicles has increased. The problem that I see is that these changes will take us only so far. Despite what many people may assume, the US isn’t completely to blame for the prices of oil, and in turn gas. There is a perfect storm of conditions that have brought the prices to where they are. I’m far from an economist, but my understanding is that 1) spiking demand from developing economies such as India has a large part, 2) low interest rates drive investors to put their money in commodities like oil as opposed to investing in the financial markets to seek better returns driving up demand and prices, and 3) our invasion of Iraq, in addition to other conflicts or threats of conflict in the region raise concerns about continued supplies.
Now some of these conditions can, and probably will improve, but I’m pretty skeptical that those conditions are going to improve to the point where gas prices are going to drop significantly. I’m pretty sure the growing economies that are largely driving demand are going to continue to grow, thus demand will continue to increase. So the question is, what can we change about how we do things America to improve our relationship with oil? Also, is it actually going to hurt us enough to really institute some significant change?
Things that I would like to see change:
True commitment to alternative fuel technologies. I don’t know which one should or will come out on top, but the only way that we’re going to be able to divorce ourselves from oil, is to find something to replace it. The world population is going to continue to grow, world demand for oil will continue to increase, and there isn’t really anything we can do about it, but find an alternative to using so much oil.
I’d love to see a change in the car purchasing behaviors of the country. I just can’t understand the mindset that brings people to drive Hummers. The only people that truly need Hummers carry assault rifles and wear camouflage for a living. If everyone drove smaller cars that were more gas efficient, the roads would be safer as well.
Increased use of mass transit in urban centers. One of the big things that many European cities have over many US cities is a well-developed mass transit system that uses a subway system as a primary component. Even in Washington, D.C. where they have a good transit system, its pretty inconvenient in large parts of the city. One of the most popular portions of the city, Georgetown, is still unreachable by the subway. Atlanta, one of the biggest cities in the south, has a terrible mass transit system.
The last thing that could improve our situation with oil, is something that I’m not so sure is a good thing, but I’ll throw it out anyway. Increased urbanization, would decrease commute times. We are the kings of urban sprawl in this country. People really like their suburbs and lots of land around them. I doubt that a movement back to the cities would ever actually occur, but it could help improve the oil dependence situation.
One basic thing we have to realize is that there isn’t an easy quick fix to the high gas price problem. I’m of the opinion that they’re never going to drop back to where they were. The way to getting out from oil’s thumb is probably going to be a long and painful one, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have much choice in the matter.
Posted by Erik 
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