Oil's $100 milestone: Catalyst for consumer revolt?

AP/Matt Rourke

Gas prices are seen along with the skyline in Philadelphia. Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time ever.

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Oil's $100 milestone: Catalyst for consumer revolt?

Soaring demand, a falling dollar, recent declines in domestic reserves and global political unrest combined to briefly push the price of a barrel of oil past the long-dreaded $100 threshold yesterday.

The economy can withstand $100 oil

U.S. News and World Report

High oil prices, as unhappy as they make us, are doing God's work, by curbing our appetite for carbon fuel, pointing us to greater energy security and limiting the impact of human activity on the environment. The decline in gasoline demand in response to rising energy costs is proof that markets work and that market mechanisms are our best energy policy.

What’s your consumption factor?

New York Times

Whether we get there willingly or not, we shall soon have lower consumption rates, because our present rates are unsustainable.
Real sacrifice wouldn’t be required, however, because living standards are not tightly coupled to consumption rates. Much American consumption is wasteful and contributes little or nothing to quality of life. For example, per capita oil consumption in Western Europe is about half of ours, yet Western Europe’s standard of living is higher by any reasonable criterion, including life expectancy, health, infant mortality, access to medical care, financial security after retirement, vacation time, quality of public schools and support for the arts. Ask yourself whether Americans’ wasteful use of gasoline contributes positively to any of those measures.