Hey alphasigmookie,

I am not an economist but my take on it is that's is probably over-speculation at this point with retirement funds going to oil instead of real estate. However, in the long run, I think it's useful to see this as a warning. A second warning since the oil crisis of the late 70's, which was also not fundamentals per se: the supply did drop due to a political move by the oil-producing countries. While I may agree that some drilling (including domestic where it makes sense, i.e. not ANWR) could help for now, it's just a mid-term solution at best and we need to think of what's next. I am however an engineer and my take on *that* is that we should go for the solutions we know work: nuclear and photovoltaic solar while exploring other things that may or may not work such as algae-produced hydrocarbons and even fusion.

I really think this is something conservatives and liberals can get together on. One of my conservatives friends was making fun of my hybrid car but then had to admit than even if you don't believe in anthropogenic global warming, we can all agree that reducing dependence on foreign oil would be good for this country overall. 

Best,