Will Gasoline Go to $5 a Gallon?

From Mac Slavo over at SHTF Plan:

Though he’s no longer running one of the largest companies in the world, former President of Shell Oil John Hofmeister warns that the outlook for gas prices in the coming decade is not looking good:

I’m predicting a worse outcome over the next two years, which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices, uncertainty as to the future of hydrocarbons, more regulation on the hydrocarbon industry based upon who the administration is today…

…When the American consumers are short, or when prices are so high – $5 a gallon for gasoline by 2012 – I believe that’s going to happen – that’s going to set a new tone, it’s going to be panic time on the part of the politicians, they’re going to suddenly get some kind of a sense we better do something.

The bad news, as pointed out in the linked article, is that Hofmeister is making his $5 a gallon prediction based upon supply and demand issues – he doesn’t even take in to consideration the devaluation of the dollar by Bernanke’s massive printing of money.  Remember that if gasoline prices go up, then the price of everything goes up because at some point in the chain, gasoline comes along to participate in the process (even if its just you driving to the store to get an item).

We’re in a real bad way here – Obama has essentially shut off expanding usage of domestic oil supplies; we’re many years away from nuclear power being able to take up energy slack; forget about solar and win – it’ll be decades before they really do the job, if even then.  We need energy to function and we’ve got no plan on how to increase our energy supplies.  Some think this is all deliberate on the part of Obama and the left – starve our economy of cheap energy as a way of impoverishing us and thus turning us easily in to State dependents – but I don’t really think its that.  I think they’re just plain and simple stupid…people so wrapped up in their own, little world that they don’t even see where the problem is coming from.

Even $4 a gallon gas would shove us firmly back in to recession – and as we’re already above $3 a gallon here in December with no shortages and low consumption, I can’t see anything other than bad news heading our way as spring and summer come in.

HAT TIP:  Zero Hedge

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