If gasoline were to rise to $12 per gallon, wouldn't you still have to buy it?

Those guys and the insurance companies. They should form a team called “Let’s Fuck America”.

@essieness I agree. I’m currently being screwed by insurance companies.

Yes, you would still buy it. Just not as much. Depending upon where you live, the price elasticity of gasoline is 15 to 20:1 . That means if the price goes up 15%, your driving is reduced 1%. That relationship held all the way to $4 per gallon. It probably goes higher . So, I predict your driving would be reduced to about 50% of what it is now.
At $12 all kinds of alternatives would make sense.

I think the French Revolution is still fresh on the minds of anyone who thinks of pushing an economically stressed populace too far.

let them eat crude

Well, I work out of my house and can walk to the grocery store.
So, no.

I also don’t think it is all in the hands of the oil companies.

There would still be supply and demand. Also, alternative energy sources that aren’t economical now suddenly would be.

I live close to shops, and could take the bus or ride a bike to work; it’s 5 miles away. I deliberately live in town and not out in the suburbs. My employer began letting people who lived out work from home a few days a week when the gas prices got so high.

I think that this isn’t going to happen because there are alternatives. The reason these alternatives haven’t flourished yet is because they are so expensive to start. But if gas becomes that expensive then there is nothing stopping the alternatives from becoming prevalent. Alternatives vary depending on what you are using the gas for. Such as different electricity sources (wind power and solar power). Or different fuel sources (biodeisel, electric cars, etc..).

Nope. I would move close to work.

@Marina…It’s none of my business, but do you rent or own?

If gas becomes that expensive, other alternatives—telecommuting to work, public transit – start becoming feasible.

You’re assuming that the choice is whether or not to drive. In fact, it’s whether to drive, walk, take a bicycle, telecommute, take the bus, carpool….

We don’t have to buy it. We have excellent public transportation. We also have those carshare programs, so we don’t even have to own a car. If you don’t own, then twelve dollar gas is nothing.

I’m all in favor of twelve dollar gas. If it won’t go up by itself, I’d tax it up there. I don’t care what the API advertisements say. The oil industry is filled with lying, selfish, short-sighted millionaires who are totally clueless about the world outside of oil.

No, of course no. There are already alternative fuels to power automobiles. You can find the ways to DoItYourself on several sites. The current most popular one seems to be making fuel out of discarded restaurant fat.

You didn’t really think the government was worried about your trans-fat intake, did you? What they are worried about is enough people will start re-using the abundant cooking fat left-overs, and the oil company barons will start losing out.

The price for gas is $8 – 10 per gallon already in parts of Europe and Japan. That encourages people to conserve by making different life choices. At $12 you would select a more efficient car. You’d pay for technologies that are more expensive but save fuel. You’d make sure your tires were inflated properly. You might even select a different living arrangement.
At $12 we’d think about carpooling with our neighbors when shopping or going to work .
There is not enough french fry fat to power everyone’s cars by the way. (We’ve all got plenty for liposuction on the other hand…) When diesel got up to $5 the suppliers of used cooking oil started selling their waste for $1 per gallon.
We still need oil and will for a number of years. As the price increases, different technologies start to make sense. At $6.50 you’ll start to see Butanol, At $9.00 you’ll start to see Hydrogen.
@daloon Don’t worry about the “lying, selfish, short-sighted millionaires” in the oil industry. They won’t go hungry. They’ll still manage to rip us off with outrageous bonuses, salaries, parachutes and retirement packages. $400 M for Exxon’s Lee Raymond?!?! $100 Million wasn’t enough?

liposuction hahahahaha

As @cwilbur says, there are many more options beyond driving in a car and going nowhere. I would start biking to work whenever the ratio of cost to time favours biking over driving.

I would probably get a hybrid but still drive to work since it is 12 miles away and there is no public transportation to it. Might possibly carpool if feasible. I would drive much less on days off (already don’t use the cars much on days off.)

As an example: when I moved a couple of years ago, I paid attention to public transit. That was the right move to make, because when gas went up over $3 a gallon, I was filling my gas tank every 6 weeks, and the difference between $1.50 and $3 a gallon didn’t really cause me all that much pain.

I would buy a motorcycle and a subcompact and park them both in the bed of my truck.

Yes, they have us by the short hairs, and always have, ever since it first spurted out of the ground-Pennsylvania?
It is used to manipulate money supply, consumer confidence and mostly influencing our elections, here and abroad; and an integral factor in the world economy It is something the world is so reliant on, and as the CEO of Exxon once said to try and change our huge demand and reliance is like trying turn an aircraft carrier around immediately-it takes time to change direction.

I’d ride my scooter even more and be careful to consolidate errands.

I would use a water kit and not worry about it. I love H3O

@Garebo: Explain…?

I’m familiar with it. Supposedly your car runs on water. There are different names for the device depending upon who is hawking it. Sometimes it’s called HHO. Basically they electrolyze water to Hydrogen and Oxygen and run the car on that mix. What they don’t tell you is that Physics 101 dictates it always takes more energy to split the Hydrogen and Oxygen than you get out of them when they recombine. The sellers make all sorts of claims but when you really pin it down you find they are not doing anything magical. They either charge batteries before the test, or they run the electrolyzer from the wall current, or they deplete a battery during their test. If you could get electricity for free you might consider doing this. You can violate all kinds of laws: state, local, federal, religious. But you can’t violate the laws of Physics.

I give it 30 minutes before a seller will jump down my throat. Ready? Go! 30, 29…