Over the long run, is the spike in oil prices good or bad for the US?

I think it's a positive. The faster we get off the oil needle, the faster we stop shipping dollars to arabs and others who hate us. With gas prices at $4 and going up, there's finally an incentive to go green - and FAST!Over the long run, is the spike in oil prices good or bad for the US?
I think thats kind of stupid.Over the long run, is the spike in oil prices good or bad for the US?
I agree, it also pushes public transportation to catch up with the times. America is built in cheap fuel (in my neighborhood, I have yet to see the first public bus going around), and that's why this is a crisis. In other countries, gas has been triple the current price here for months, and it's not that much of a problem, because they were ready to cope with the prices.





And although I'm biased on this (I come from a country where oil is ruining everything) I think it's good for America, it's like telling the people ';you need to be ready for whatever can happen, don't rely on the fact that everything will always stay the same, beause it won't.';





I just hope that public transportation and such catch up fast and soon enough before people don't have enough money to pay for gas. Also car companies! With so much technology, how come India came up with an electric car before the U.S.! And how come we don't have it here!!!!





Bah..
We've wasted 35 years!





Educated people began to understand the looming oil crisis in 1973. If we had, during the intervening years, had rational energy policies, we would already have developed alternative energy options and learned to use energy efficiently.





Unfortunately, our leaders took the short view. Our energy policy for the last 35 years has been essentially this: Keep oil prices low.





So we've spent untold billions (not to mention lives) on wars and policy to keep gas cheap.





Cheap oil, of course, has squelched any incentive to develop renewable energy resources.





It's practically tragic.





Now, though, we have to act. But the politicians are still dithering. The elephants say the solution is to drill more, which is silly. New drilling can, at best, merely buy us a little time. The donkeys say the problem is with corrupt oil companies squeezing the poor consumer.





Let gas go up another few bucks and our leaders will have to wake up. I have high hopes that our next president will be visionary enough to seize the opportunity to lead the world in the creation of a green energy industry that can add enormous wealth to our society.
Maybe, maybe not. The fact is we don't know what the actual price of oil would be under true supply and demand. One thing that would definitely be bad for the U.S. is to continue to allow unregulated large-scale speculation in vital commodities.





The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on this very issue on June 3 2008, last Tuesday. The hearing was titled Energy Market Manipulation and Federal Enforcement Regimes. For a real eye opener, take a look at the testimony from that hearing:





http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.鈥?/a>





In particular look at the testimony of Michael Greenberger, who served as the Director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from September 1997 to September 1999:





http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files鈥?/a>





After reading this stuff, you will understand what exactly is going on with oil. You are paying at least $1 more for a gallon of gas than you would pay under non-manipulated supply and demand.





Any explanations that blame factors such as increased demand from China and India, dwindling supply, or ';peak oil';, are simply irrelevant. Nobody knows what the actual driving forces are, nor their actual effect, so long as large scale speculators such as hedge funds and Morgan Stanley (the latter is actually buying and stockpiling oil as a hedge against the falling dollar) continue to manipulate the price in unregulated markets.





Don't take my word for it -- read the testimony above. You'll gain a good clear understanding of what exactly has been going on.
Yes it is, but Americans only care about the short term. That is how they got in to this mess.


The only way America will go green is if the people demand it. They don't demand it because it is not popular. The American media/press decide what is popular and they are paid by oil companies for advertising.





So when America stops the oil giants then it has some hope for the future.





But do you see that happening in the near future??
If you consider ';Reality'; a GOOD thing, then the rise in Oil prices is JUST what the Doctor Orderd for a Country that's WAY too Dependent upon Fossil Fuels... Personally- it's happening LATER than I thought it would... but maybe that's why it's happening so FAST; because there's LESS time to ';catch up with Reality...'; :(
What does going green mean? Does it mean actually going green to the environment? Its not exactly true. Doesn't damming a river screw it up environmentally for river organisms?





Its actually a bad thing! With fuel prices hiking this fast, be prepared for global economic depression!