Are we going to have a $100 ritual...

[Chris P]

Well oil is almost $100 and I believe its going to happen. Im just wondering if we humans are goinng to have some ritual (big headlines, shock and awe, gas saving tips, market downfall) etc when it happens.

I guess what Im asking is are we going to treat $100 mark as if its something more significant as the $99 mark.

Lets see as its going to be interesting. Im off to the parts stores to buy all the siphons I can and scalp them for 5x their value. (hope you all see humor in that).

[eds]

The new ritual will be a campaign to ban the left turn!

In fact UPS already tries to prevent left turns for its drivers:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7000908

Prices are soaring because of increased demand from places like India and China. When the price gets high enough demand will fall because people won't be able to pay the $5 per gallon price. The price will fall because the supply will still be there and companies want to move that supply to generate revenue.

It would be worse, if similar to the 70's, the supply just was not there. There was the OPEC embargo, Iran-Iraq War, and Iranian Revolution which limited supply. With a limited supply the demand had to decrease much more substantially because of constricted supply. Reducing demand did nothing for the price which was not as elastic as in a non-supply restricted model. The gas was just not available at any price.