....And I Feel Fine

Shorter car guy:

Self-righteous preening environazis with their fruity bumper-stickered toastermobiles are not going to castrate me.

I actually feel for the guy to a certain extent, I really do. A great car, classic or modern, is a work of art, a feat of engineering, a vessel of innovation, a labor of love. Unfortunately we have conditioned ourselves into believing that they are also penis extensions, and that our illusions about our status need to be broadcast through our product choices. Okely-dokely then. See how much longer that lasts when oil starts heading north again -- as it will once the summer's incremental demand destruction has been reapportioned.

Enjoy sport/pleasure drives and auto racing while you can, because another few years of China and India ramping up auto ownership and gas demand, coupled with a burgeoning current account deficit going into China's already overflowing pockets -- well, supply and production are already maxed out, so who starts getting more out of the existing margin, the people with cash or the people without?

Car Guy doesn't have to take the word of Ed Begley or whatever arugula-humping twit he thinks is trying to hypocritically impose major lifestyle concessions on him. Hyman Rickover put it pretty well:

Fossil fuels resemble capital in the bank. A prudent and responsible parent will use his capital sparingly in order to pass on to his children as much as possible of his inheritance. A selfish and irresponsible parent will squander it in riotous living and care not one whit how his offspring will fare.

The weekend warrior taking his Shelby out for a spin is not really the problem, so much as the millions of grocery schooners being used for the most mundane errands on a daily basis. That's where the most excessive waste is adding up, and that's where you start addressing the problem.

Or not; we'll see how far the rugged independence of defensive indignation gets us when Jeebus lets the wells run dry despite all our pious entreaties and increasingly reckless bargaining.