[OAC_Sparky]

D-Dub,Jun 21 2008, 12: Wrote:Unless our civil planners can re-design all our cities where we dont have to drive around them to get stuff done?( you know WALK down the street to the bakery)...........which will probably not happen, so we're going to have to keep driving and keep paying the premium to do so. We slowly f***ed our self over because we never thought gas would get this high and now it is and its only going to get higher. [right][snapback]267533[/snapback][/right]

A lot of things will have to change as energy prices rise.

You may see the return of local merchants to your neighbourhood. Ever wonder why people used to have local butchers/bakers/candlestickmakers in the first place? Because not everyone had a means of getting around cheaply like they do now.

Another consideration:

Q. Who is the largest group of oil consumers in the world? American drivers? The utility companies?

A. None of those. It's the merchant shipping fleets around the world. By far. As fuel prices rise over long term, you're going to see a drastic rise in cost for shipping everything from overseas including cars made in Korea and crap that's made in China. As that happens, and as those people in these countries demand higher wages to keep up with their new standard of living, you're going to see a shift back to more local (in country) production as the cost advantage of producing overseas erodes.

Soon, it won't make financial sense to ship Cananadian raw materials to China for them to turn it into goods to ship back here. Then you'll see the big box companies like Walmart and Costco in big trouble.