OK, so we will be King of the Rubble.
The US may in fact keep above other countries with natural gas and shale oil but so what. It's still a slow molasses crawl into the ground. I highly doubt that the standard of living built on cheap, easy to extract, high quality oil during the 20th century will be saved. I don't believe that natural gas and 2nd class oil fields will boost industry and economy into the perpetual growth that is required to support our debt-based monetary system. The good ol' days will NOT be coming back.
I would agree. Except that's ridiculous.
US made its jump in the 20th century due vast grown in manufacturing, productivity and technology. We made SOME strides in our national energy production obviously, as in 1899, we didn't have massive hydrocarbon burning aircraft and cars. So keep in mind, we used oil because it was cheap and easy. If it's not cheap and easy, we'll use something else.
If we had enough cheap and easy electricity (plus a lot of chemistry and physics nerds), we can manufacture synthetic hydrocarbons out of air. if you think I'm insane, you're not familiar with removing nitrogen from the air for fertilizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenic_nitrogen_plant Build a cluster of modern nuclear power plants in the middle of nowhere, use fractional distillation to break air down into components, and then recombine into complex hydrocarbons as necessary. If we were smart enough to move in that direction, we'd curb stomp the entire world while making money hand over fist. Easy? Nope. But sooner or later, we may have to move in that direction. Key is to start the research now and change the laws to facilitate a transition in that direction. Folks will do it on their own accord and dime. We just need to make it easier by removing the obstacles.
