Spork wrote:
Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

This obviously relates to the other article about the decline of suburbia. But like the conversation chris and i had earlier today, the people who are going to hurt most are the people sitting in traffic for hours because of the mcmansion lifestyle. these are the same people who don't want the train system to reach out to their neighborhoods. oh well, that just means my house value will go up and why more people are moving back in town.

I have an "Oh well" attitude on this one as well. I live next to a Marta station and take the train whenever it makes sense. I car pool to work, meaning I only drive 20 minutes to work once or twice a week. I average 330 miles to the tank, which is impressive considering I drive like a wannabe F1 racer. Gas costs me $40-$50 every 2-3 weeks. I take advantage of commuter rewards. Plus I'm getting this sweet $600 check from Dubya. I'm really not feeling the pain.

Worthersee wrote:

Spork wrote:
Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

This obviously relates to the other article about the decline of suburbia. But like the conversation chris and i had earlier today, the people who are going to hurt most are the people sitting in traffic for hours because of the mcmansion lifestyle. these are the same people who don't want the train system to reach out to their neighborhoods. oh well, that just means my house value will go up and why more people are moving back in town.

I have an "Oh well" attitude on this one as well. I live next to a Marta station and take the train whenever it makes sense. I car pool to work, meaning I only drive 20 minutes to work once or twice a week. I average 330 miles to the tank, which is impressive considering I drive like a wannabe F1 racer. Gas costs me $40-$50 every 2-3 weeks. I take advantage of commuter rewards. Plus I'm getting this sweet $600 check from Dubya. I'm really not feeling the pain.

I don't see this affecting everyone, but most of the people who do have to drive to serve me coffee, food, drinks, or even to entertain me. You obviously are employed with a stable job and a penchant for doing things a bit smarter than a lot of other people. the point was to show that people who have resisted marta for social reasoning, but now are going to feel the pinch and we'll have to hear them bitch about it more. and then bitch about them not being able to sell their houses. cycle that.

Spork wrote:
Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

This obviously relates to the other article about the decline of suburbia. But like the conversation chris and i had earlier today, the people who are going to hurt most are the people sitting in traffic for hours because of the mcmansion lifestyle. these are the same people who don't want the train system to reach out to their neighborhoods. oh well, that just means my house value will go up and why more people are moving back in town.

Just think - if the price of petrol keeps rising like that then before long you'll be paying the same as the rest of the world. For the record, right now where I live Unleaded Petrol apparantly works out to be $8.79 per gallon, and I know that the south of England and parts of Europe have higher prices than that...

Graham wrote:

Spork wrote:
Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

This obviously relates to the other article about the decline of suburbia. But like the conversation chris and i had earlier today, the people who are going to hurt most are the people sitting in traffic for hours because of the mcmansion lifestyle. these are the same people who don't want the train system to reach out to their neighborhoods. oh well, that just means my house value will go up and why more people are moving back in town.

Just think - if the price of petrol keeps rising like that then before long you'll be paying the same as the rest of the world. For the record, right now where I live Unleaded Petrol apparantly works out to be $8.79 per gallon, and I know that the south of England and parts of Europe have higher prices than that...

I guess when you say "the rest of the world" you are only talking about Europe being the "rest of the world". With your high taxes and great social services this is just another way of raising the tax revenues needed. Not everywhere is at the high dollar amount for gas that you have suggested. And by the way England isn't the center of the world, anymore. I do understand that Europe has high prices for many reasons, but the problem with what we are dealing with is the rise of the gas prices in the short period of time it has occured. What this does is raises all other aspects of living without the same inflations in pay. Europe has had high taxes for a long time so people are quite used to them, where ours are not as high and when they go higher it will talk a while to get used to them. By the way check out some other prices here: http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/

I Love Lamp wrote:
Both Qatar's oil minister and the head of OPEC can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years. That could mean cataclysm for the global economy.

This obviously relates to the other article about the decline of suburbia. But like the conversation chris and i had earlier today, the people who are going to hurt most are the people sitting in traffic for hours because of the mcmansion lifestyle. these are the same people who don't want the train system to reach out to their neighborhoods. oh well, that just means my house value will go up and why more people are moving back in town.

I agree with you. I take the train a majority of days to work and live in town. It really works out well for me. Its nice to go up to the Lanier Dam and fish on the weekend, but I sure as hell don't want to live up there. I saw houses 'Starting in the low 300s' last time I was up there. I really couldn't help to laugh...

yeah driving to the lake sounds better than driving to the lake to go home. you forget that the people who are buying the houses in the $300k range are the same ones driving their leased car paying between $600-$1000 a month. hmm, i wonder why people might not be able to pay for gas. if you don't believe me check out http://www.leasetrader.com/. check out the $1800 the person is paying for their S8.