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Originally Posted by stickyfingerzdotnet
Why should the government regulate the prices? I thought we lived in a free market. The market should regulate the prices. If the prices goto high people will stop buying as much gas, and driving less. That will result in lower prices.
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And more alternatives.
Oil is still one of the cheapest forms of energy around. People will move to alternatives once they become cheaper over the life of the car as compared to gasoline-driven models, and that time will come within the next decade, as alternatives become competitive in both power and cost.
As for electrical generation, oil is going to be critically important for at least another decade, and possibly longer once oil shale and oil sand extraction methods become sufficiently advanced to be price competitive with drilling methods.
Oil as a source of home heat is not going anywhere for a long, long time, among those who currently use it.
The last thing we need is for some idealistic politician to interfere with market forces and force movement to alternatives, ahead of the time at which it would be economically feasable to do so.