I don't think it'* a can of worms.......yet. So far it'* fairly civilized. When it gets down to it, YES! I would love lower fuel prices. I don't think there'* much we can do about it until we can convince investors on Wall Street to quit buying barrels of oil for more than they're really worth.

Ah yes, speculators. Now you see why prices are so high. OPEC has made no changes to production, the recent spike is all about speculation. We're hoping a slow down in the US economy may force quantities to rise and end the hot speculation market, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

$100 a barrel is here to stay, for a while too.

The only way to save the US economy is to invest and develop new forms of alternative energy. Oil is going to continue to get more expensive as it runs out and more 3rd world countries need it.

As of 2006 China had 24 cars per 1000 people. By 2010 it is predicted to be 40 per 1000. By contrast in 2002 the U.*. had 765 per 1000. Imagine the amount of oil/gas China will consume as they rapidly become modernized. If alternatives are not found soon (and not alternatives that compete with the food supply) things will get real interesting. If the U.*. would have got serious about developing alternatives back in the early seventies when the first shortage scares hit us (and gas jumped up to 32 cents a gallon!), things would be much better now.

Yeah, that'* one thing I find interesting about this whole thing. The slowing economy, yet people still fill up the tank. Granted, a lot of people don't have a choice, work/school, etc, but I'll bet this summer will still see tons of people driving places for vacations and stuff. You'd think with a slowing economy that the oil prices would drop as well. Doesn't really make sense to me. My opinion on the whole thing, we've got a ton of oil sittin in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, drill those, use them temporarily, continue alternatives like solar, wind, and build more hydroelectric where possible, and do a "moon-shot" type program of getting fusion off the ground.

Also I was watching a business show, I think it was MSNBC business, anyways they were talking about the chinese, there are supposed to be a billion people entering the middle class in the next 3-5 years. What do middle class people do? They eat better and buy cars! Thus increasing oil consumption around the world. The next 10, hell even 5 years will be very interesting indeed.

I would just like to chim in to the comment about people driving SUVs/Trucks.

There are a lot of us in the north that NEED a truck for work,winter,or hauling the familiy around. Yes i will agree that there are too many people that drive trucks that dont need to but taxing the hell out of them or such only hurts the people that need these trucks. And before anyone jumps on my a$$ about how much it costs to fill up the truck and trailer to go racing with, this is my hobby its where i spend my money. Other people have hobbies too, they just spend the cash elsewhere.

BTW

Racing fuel is $12.50 per us gallon (FULLY SYNTHETIC NOT ALKY EITHER) we use 55 gallons a year.

And we will use ONLY 500 gallons of diesel in the truck to haul the car around per year.

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Thank you for pointing that out too. We've got a big family, and we wouldn't fit in anything except a large SUV or van.

Its true that there are just a few people on wall street making billions off us all. They make a great point for communism. They arte capitalism at its worst.

It would be great if the middle east would just stabilize since thats where most of our oil comes from. Any argument about oil prices starts to involve the wars in the middle east. And any discussion about that almost certainly involves a big dose of religion.

If we wanna dig deep into this we might need a whole new section.

Another issue to keep in mind, while the US economy is in a downturn, you'd expect oil prices to stabalize. However, with the lagging US dollar (which has reached a new low against the new benchmark Euro), investors are pulling money out of the American money markets and into commodities (like gold and crude oil).

Its a double edge sword. Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and savings while rich investors take money out of the US and put it into oil, which jacks up the prices. Keep in mind, in January, a barrel cost $87 USD, its now at $108 USD.

Oh and blaming the Middle East for oil prices....wrong, its not the middle east, while instability in the middle East causes spikes here and there in prices, the strongest influencer of commodities is speculators.

Reports out recently confirm that oil is heavily overvalued right now.