Wow....you're quite the doom and gloom guy, ain't you?

You are predicting oil at $350/barrel (based on your $7/gallon)? Not going to happen.

There is no evidence that the bird flu virus is mutating into a human to human communicable diseasze. I see this going the way of Ebola and SARS.

War? Probably.

Water shortages? I doubt it. While expensive, desalination plants are quite effective.

Go take a happy pill, you pessimist.

Yeah, I thought I was the morbidly pessimistic one.

That's some funny math there. It's $3/gallon now with oil at $71/barrel. It's been relatively linear (~$2 when it was at $50/barrel, ~$2.50 when it was at $60/barrel), so $7/gallon would be around $165/barrel. And it wouldn't be surprising if, once it passed $100, that linear relationship accelerates, hitting $7/gallon even sooner.

Meanwhile, I heard one economist with an eye on oil estimate that if supplies were what the "should be" (i.e., Iraq and Nigeria in particular producing at full capacity), the price "should be" $55/barrel.

You are.

Not according to those who subscribe to global warming.

http://news.com.com/Global+warming+t...3-5895784.html

Well, I'm still not sure where I've ever said anything particularly pessimistic on this (or any other board). But I meant I thought I was and iSm wasn't (since he is the one who labelled me such).

No biggie though. There's plenty of room over here and if we were all morbidly pessimistic in the form that I apparently am, humanity would be a reasonably happy group of people.

Well, no it isn't. ISM put OIL, not GAS, at $7/gallon. I am open to the possibility that he meant gas, and in retrospect he probably did. Oil at $7/gallon equals oil at $385/barrel (I mistakenly figured it out for a 50 gallon barrel originally).

Man, I'm so addicted to oil that all this talk is driving me bonkers, man. Anyone wanna hook me up with some Penzoil, man? Anyone wanna hit me with some 10W-30? C'mon, man. I'll get ya back later.

Meet me behind the gas station in 20 minutes.