The oil companies at least have gotten smarter and we have gotten dumber, in 1973 they said "Oh, we have a serious shortage of gasoline and we are going to have to raise prices in order to repalce our reserve". Long lines at the stations, odd-even days to get gas and so on. The response was less driving, car pooling, auto companies tooling up and making small econo boxes(what a success that was
,remember the Vega, Horizon and such). Now that we have settled back into bigger is better and more horsepower is what we want the oil companies are telling us "Oh, we're not out of gas but it is costing us more to buy crude oil and more to refine it and more to transport it and more to pump it into your tank, but "we are not out of gas". When are we going to wise up and spend the money to develop another fuel and stop getting it in the neck.