This wikipedia article should answer most of your questions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Prices

The author says that the recent increase in gas prices are mostly speculative. Lots of people on TV are saying that the emerging middle class in China (read: people who own cars) is causing a spike in the demand for oil. At the same time, OPEC is running at capacity and can not increase capacity in a timely fashion to offset that demand. Then add to the mix that Iraq is not pumping what it used to (almost back to pre-war level), King Fahd's death, and hurricane's in the gulf of Mexico. Sounds like a ton of uncertainty to me.

Note the article is saying that the demand is not really there, it's just being predicted. There's not a shortage of oil now, but the people who buy and sell the stuff are hedging that there will be. Whether or not the increase in demand comes seems to be the issue. If it does, consider $3 gas normal, if not, the bubble bursts at some point and we're back to paying a reasonable amount (maybe less). It looks like we will finally be drilling in Alaska, but that infrastructure won't be there for years, and even when it does it's not enough to change prices dramatically.

China is definitely a huge concern. The more China allows for private ownership and the more their economy develops, the more oil demand will rise. The fact that China is becoming increasingly industrialized doesn't help things for gas prices.

Alaska will help, but I really think the key is for the U.S. (as well as the rest of the world) to diversify their oil sources. Look towards Africa. I didn't really know this until the G8 Summit but Africa has HUGE oil reserves and many other untapped resources.

Think we have it bad? Look at this link:

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/

You might think twice about Americans being "screwed" over when you see that people in Amsterdam pay $6.48 for a gallon of gas.

It would be nice if we lived in Venezuela, which has gas at 12 cents per.

Yea, true, theres always someone who has it worse off and those who have it better off. Denmark has always been an expensive place for gas, as shown there, but doesn't mean going from $1.70 a gallon to $2.70 a gallon is going to upset a few people.

I can't afford to buy gas anymore now that the prices have gone up. I'm going back to riding my broom.

I dont think drilling int Alaska is the answer, we need to focus on more long-term renewable sources. People, (like the idiots in DeKalb) need to stop worrying about solar glare, migrating birds, and the supposedly unpleasant view of wind farms. I really don't understand why people are so resistant to them. I'd rather live next door to a wind farm than a coal Power Plant. And the sun I think is highly unutilized. So before we go destroying more Arctic habitat, perhaps we can look elsewhere (as in other sources).

You missed the most obvious, cheap and clean power source: Nuclear energy. Solar panels are too expensive, and clouds have a tendency to happen. Wind farms are nice, but they're also expensive and not suitable for every location.

I have no idea why we're burning coal and oil for electrity when we have so much invested in Nuclear energy research. It's done a good job in Illinois so far...

I dont know if nuclear energy is exactly clean either. i guess it depends on your definition, it burns clean, but what do you do with all the nuclear waste? i think wind farms are the way of the future, their inital cost is more, but they are creating free power with virtually no waste, no other power source can say that. peoples complaint is that they are ugly? how? and nuclear power plants or coal power plants are pretty?

actually my senior design project this semester is working for exelon at the byron nuclear power plant building a robot to inspect insides of the reactor. my biggest question is what happens to all the waste? all i've heard is 'water tanks underground'.

Yucca Mountain? On-site storage in water tanks is the way waste is handeled now, AFAIK. I believe the Yucca mountain site is supposed to be completed in 2010. I'm not sure how much capacity it has - it wouldn't surprise me if the government invested 20 years and billions of dollars on something that only solves 10% of the problem... Oh yeah, and did you know it's possible to recycle the spent fuel anyways?

Don't get me wrong, I think Wind farms show tremendous potential. However, I don't think they're practical right now, given the initial investment and the tremendous amount of space they require. Plus, nuclear power research is ongoing. With advances such as Fast Breeder Reactors, the economics may exceed wind power in the future.

Dudes, didn't you guys ever play Sim City 2000? Wind farms took up way too much space and lowered all of my property values. Microwave or fusion is the way to go.