How people cope (or not) with less
Okay, if you read the stories that people are submitting, you know some people are taking action. But as a lot of you point out, there are A LOT more people who are still in denial, who have adjusted their thinking (and consumption) very little or not at all. I have a friend, for example, who no longer drives to Ubiquitous Coffee Chain every day, and so she figures she's done her part and the crisis will be over soon. You hear stories like that? Is that YOUR story? Then you are one of the people we're NOT hearing from, and I want to understand your view. I mean, we've seen cars burning, dudes fighting over gas and clearheaded peeps like RockLobster are taking to the hills. Do you really think this is all about to blow over?
PRICES CREEP UP
With demand still strong, the prices for fuels continue to creep up, with all the subtlety of a thumbscrew. Some areas have already seen $5/gal gasoline and everyone else uses that as the figure when they resignedly calculate next week's losses.
DOW SINKS DOWN
More accurately, it's falling down the stairs - concern causes a plunge, then it plateaus, then some new concern erupts causing a new plunge. The Dow is now off 15% and street wisdom says "hold your head, we're still at the top of the stairs..."
POWER OUTAGES
Brownouts mostly, they rippled across the East Coast and the South this week. The biggest incident blacked out much of urban Florida for 8 hours and parts of Georgia for 12. The incident traced back to oil-fired power plants slow to come on line; the East Coast depends on these plants to supply peak power. Heard in Tampa: "Brownout is the new blackout."
UNFRIENDLY SKIES
News-wise, the airlines have pretty much been flying under the radar, working together to quietly cancel their least productive flights to control fuel demand. They are getting backlash from the tourism industry this week, and both face the prospect of a devastating year. For most people, "uncertainty" (i.e., dread) has taken all the joy out of an escape to exotic Cancun.
SPT SCALES BACK
Citing security concerns, the feds scaled back the draw on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1 million gallons of oil a day. The rationale is essentially this: if we draw on the SPR, it's not available to offset any additional shortfall - thus making oil targets very tempting to terrorists. I leave pointing out the gaping flaws in this thinking as an exercise for the reader.
AROUND THE WORLD
Wanted to commend the reports coming in from countries other than the U.S. Much good insight there. Americans are notoriously self-focused - DON'T get me started - and these viewpoints from outside are the cure. Reports from the U.K. are plentiful and good, and from Canada of course, but I focused on the news from Australia, where a looming water shortage is looming. That's something we Americans need to think (worry) about.
THIS JUST IN
But not exactly jolting: Secretary of State Benjamin Hamilton, who shocked many with his extreme views on energy independence, has "been resigned" from his position by the President. No comment.
QUESTION: HOW MUCH FUEL CONSUMPTION HAVE YOU *REALLY* CUT OUT OF YOUR LIFE?
And how did you do it? What's the bottom line for you, really? As always, tell us in your videos, images, blogs, emails and phone calls.
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