Predatory lending, while problematic, is not a long-term threat to the economy. Current gas prices are not the real threat to the economy. We are within spitting distance of not having enough oil to meet daily demand. Any significant disruption would be disastrous. Supply disruptions, including from current/potential conflicts (see Iran, Sudan), terrorist attacks (see Nigerian Delta, Iraq) and natural disasters (see Katrina, Rita), are the single biggest threat to the global economy. Forget $4 gas. Try $10 gas and see how that feels.
The worst part, and what we have all been talking about for years, is that we're stuck with this oil dependence until we can deploy a significant alternative to gasoline for autos, or at least bring significant new oil sources online. Either prospect could be years away. The Saudis are bringing online another million barrels a day, which maybe gets us through the middle of next year in terms of demand growth, barring a significant downward trend in demand. Americans need to ditch the gas guzzlers, buy small cars, carpool more, and drive less. We've been saying it for years, but now people are actually doing it because, as you said, they can't afford to live the way they have been living with gas prices at these levels. The U.S. consumes (very roughly) about 20 million barrels of oil per day. We need to reduce that number by ten percent to give ourselves a buffer against supply disruptions. On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 7:15 AM, Dana wrote: > it is AN economic issue but not the most important one. A possible > terrorist > attack is way outweighed by people who can't buy groceries on get to work > because of rising gas prices, and are on the verge of losign their homes > due > to predatory lending. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:262610 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
