When I first came to The Oil Drum over seven years ago I was looking for information to explain the steadily rising oil price. It has been some ride. In the vastly complex system that is industrial society it is impossible to make predictions about the future, but here, in any case, is my wag. $100+ oil has opened the door to exploitation of more expensive resources and reserves. Society is adapting to the new reality of higher energy prices. Some are becoming more energy efficient, some have installed renewable energy devices at home, some will forgo an expensive vacation they can no longer afford and some have been squeezed out of the labour market, perhaps forever, and will live out their lives on dwindling State handouts, in poverty.
I used to read The Oil Drum regularly because it gave me an easy target to show off my econ-ammo. They I stopped reading it for a while because, well, it was just too easy: peak oil theory is wrong--Hotelling (or an extension thereof) was right. Then today, in a moment of boredom, I decided to go back and read The Oil Drum--and I cam across the above quote.
Sounds an awful lot like an economist wrote that.
