Yay for high oil prices

Nick Welsh at the Santa Barbara Independent wonders:

In this whole oil price scandal, I find myself sadly bereft of a team to root for. Do I side with the oil industry and all its shameless greed? Or am I to identify with American car buyers and all their shameless stupidity?

The former. Yes, oil companies are greedy and have screwed over our country. But punishing their stock prices won't right the wrong; they'll just go find some other way to grab cash, and our lives won't be one iota better for it. But the "shameless stupidity" of American car buyers has forced us into living an exurban lifestyle that is not only unsustainable, but in many ways tragic and disgusting. If high oil prices force Americans to finally wake up from that daze, so much the better. Welsh continues:

The good news is that if you squint, there are discernible signs of intelligent self-interest sprouting up. For example, the [Santa Barbara] Metropolitan Transit District estimates it will sell nearly 900,000 more bus rides this year than it did in 2005. Likewise, the number of people seeking to piggyback their bus commutes with bike rides also jumped. In the same time period, the number of bikes loaded onto the buses’ bike racks increased by 28,000.

That is music to my ears. And if it happens in California, middle America won't be long in following. Up, oil prices, up!