Achilles heel of modern industrial society - Cheap Energy

All of the abundance that we enjoy in the modern world is because we have "energy slaves" working for us.

There's an interesting book about the Energy of Slaves by Andrew Nikiforuk.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Energy-Slaves-Andrew-Nikiforuk/dp/1771640103

Without this massive input of energy, industrial society grinds to a screeching halt. Look at how sensitive our current economic structure is to the price of oil.

When gas approaches $4 per gallon - *poof* - demand collapses. Certain activities become instantly "uneconomic". This pattern has been repeated a few times in recent memory. I like to go to gasbuddy.com and do a price chart for the last 12 years.




I would say that the economic structure is quite fragile if it can't handle $4 per gallon gas. Europe has been paying quite a bit more than that for awhile.

Maybe people stop buying SUVs and start conserving when they have to pay the true cost of things.

What happens when we get $10 per gallon gas? Or even $20?


http://www.amazon.com/20-Per-Gallon-Inevitable-Gasoline/dp/B005HKMWXQ