$20 A Gallon????

There's a new book out I want to read.

"$20 A Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change our Lives for the Better" tells us what we already know but don't want to face. The world's production of oil is pretty much maxed out, but in a few years, growth in demand (e.g. China) will far outstrip supply. How much growth? Get this: in a very near future, the additional demand for gas in China will be the equivalent to adding another USA to the planet.

Here's one intriguing idea postulated in the book: The age of Wal-Mart will be over. Done. Kaput. Eighty percent of Wal-Mart's "stuff" comes from China. It comes off the boat, then gets loaded into something like 7,000 trucks and hauled to Wal-Mart's thousands of stores. Their whole business model is based on the need for cheap oil. No cheap oil -- no Wallyworld.

I'm liking this already.

People are going to move back into downtowns, where they can walk rather than drive. We won't need so many freeways, so we can recycle their right-of-ways for rapid transit.

The author, Christopher Steiner, doesn't see $20 for a gallon gas until about 30 years from now, at which time I will be a vegetable if I'm alive at all. But Steiner breaks the chapters into price points, and speculates on what effect gas at, say $7, $12, $15 bucks a gallon has on the economy and our lifestyle.

All I can say is it makes this house I keep looking at on the west coast of Ireland more inviting and a great investment. It's in a very nice, but not large, town... A block from lots of independently owned shops.... A block from several really good pubs.... Just the kind of place to watch the rest of the world turn itself inside out.