While I would take umbrage with your characterization that I am “not that interested in the consequences for the underprivileged”, and I agree that the post is definitely sarcastic (as I said myself “snarky”), I hope my point was not lost that I want this (however small and insignificant my forum might be) to be a “call to action”, as this is a situation that requires people to make substantive changes for themselves. It not a time to blame others and seek punishment for perceived crimes. There is no crime, there is the MARKET with all the good and bad that comes with it.

Yes, the market will sort this out if WE don’t start making changes in our energy consumption both the sources and the usage. The forces of supply and demand will dictate that prices will continue to escalate to the point that instead of just worrying about how to afford a family vacation; more and more people will begin to worry about how to afford food when they can’t travel to work because of the cost of fuel.

As a guy with a somewhat “conservative” view of things, I believe that individuals have a responsibility to make, and seek to influence, the changes necessary in order to ensure their own well being. And really, that’s my point with this rant people better make the necessary changes and sacrifices in their lifestyles now, as painful as they may be, or the market is going to make them for us in a much more painful manner. People need to understand there is no boogie man that can be slain to make all the bad stuff go away.

Of course, raising taxes in order to influence behaviors is a topic fraught with contradictions for both you and me. If your push to raise taxes in Germany were successful, the people most impacted would be the underprivileged, just as they would be here if we raise the gas tax. I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t like tax increases in any form, especially when they are intended to influence behavior. But I have to acknowledge that we continue to waste time and dollars trying to maintain an un-maintainable lifestyle built around cheap energy we are the “frog in the sauce pan” and heat is being turned up. If we don’t do something to change our behaviors, the outcome will not be pretty.