seriously, we're not THAT crazy...

...just able to read the writing on the wall. you can argue with us when we say that 'peak oil' is here. we're not going to stop you...just know that some smart people agree with us.

long-time oil magnate boone pickens has called it - world crude oil production has peaked, and gas is only going to get more expensive from here.

Pickens, who announced a $2 billion investment in wind energy earlier this year, told lawmakers during a hearing on renewable electricity that he expected "the price of oil will go up further." Without alternatives, the cost of foreign oil will drain the United States of more resources, he said.

"In 10 years, we will have exported close to $10 trillion out of the country if we continue on the same basis we're going now. It is the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind," he said.

Pickens downplayed the role that speculative trading and institutional investors -- forces some see behind the high oil prices -- have had in the price trend.

just a couple years ago, this was a theory reserved for the cranks. now, a guy who's been making his money off of oil since ike was in office has decided to pull out of the business completely, move to alternative energies, and is proclaiming it dead.

the signs are everywhere. production has hit a plateau of 85 million barrels a day since 2005. the saudis are supposedly considering loosening up some extra supplies, but nobody else has said a damn thing about it. basic economics suggest that a tenfold price increase over the last decade would bring people out of the woodwork to exploit these high prices, and turn the volume of their pumps up to 11, if this over-speculation theory were true. hugo chavez would be having an oilgasm right about now. instead, he's using turning this limited supply into political clout to make the World's Greatest Nation quake in its boots, and all the powerful nations are getting together to figure out how to weed out the speculators (they won't).

more importantly: oil is fucking FINITE. it had to happen sometime.

call me an alarmist. i'm over it, because i'm probably right. i suggest you, loyal reader, do the following as soon as possible:

-throw away your suv.
-start walking again.
-get out of the burbs and move to an urban center before everyone else beats you to the punch.
-figure out where your closest mass transit stop is.
-learn to get by without plastic.
-dedicate yourself to alternative energy research.

just be prepared, because it's only going to get weirder here in the united states of driving, and more quickly than you think.