*What happens to the trillions invested in oil?*

I think that should be the last of your concerns Belly :)

I think that what will change in the future, is that energy will
come from many sources, rather then a limited few, as now.

Its going to take a long long time to change over, it will be slow,
but it will happen, as change is the most permanent thing in life.

You are correct, its amazing how the world has changed, since I was
a kid.

The thing is, it needed a huge spike in oil prices to cause the
pain for people to bring about change, particularly the Americans.
I see that their oil consumption has dropped by 800'000 barrels
a day, according to the BBC. That is not to be sneezed at and
that is only the start. The Yanks realise that oil imports
could bankrupt them even further, so are bringing about that change.
They simply can't afford that 700 billion a year for oil imports.

Oil has many uses, driving cars is just one of them. What diversity
of energy will do is lessen the monopoly that OPEC and the Russians
presently have, to virtually name their price for oil. So I think
that is all positive. Electric plug ins will be great for the
car and our freedom to drive where we please, to recharge that car
by solar, off peak, etc. But I think that things like trucks, tractors
and other high torque equipment will keep using oil.

So the Arabs and Russians are not about to cry poor, any time soon.

The big question remains, how many resources that China will gobble
up, as it grows. An article in the Weekend Australian states
that China will consume as much steel in the next 10 years, as
America used in the entire 20th century. So we live in interesting
times!

.

Yabby and Forrest I agree with every word from both of you.
In fact I think even if oil dropped to $90 we have reached the point of no return.
New fuels better economy from our cars ext is coming.
We in fact thought we would not see petrol at $1 and found it too much at that price.
Our wake up call is the first of many.
But the fact is changes will not all be noticed until well after they happen.
Tourist traffic will be less.
Road transport is shattered by bankruptcy's and impending death of owner driver trucks.
More change to come in that area as deaths involving trucks increases.
Ten years from now? it will be interesting.
Yabby the trillions to be one day lost in the oil industry's is more likely to come from our pocket than any other.
Just look at the huge losses in superannuation this year as a result of others unwise lending.

Ooh Belly, I would not panic about superannuation just yet. Most
companies would have their assets spread over many industries and
many companies. In the energy field, Australia has coal, gas etc,
all rising values, as they find more energy equity with oil.

Your super fund would also include shares like BHP, who are making
record profits. The price downturn has been mainly in financials
and property trusts. The market has devalued bank shares by around
30-40%, despite the fact that they are still making the same profits.

Its just a few of the foolish companies, who borrowed far more then
was wise, who now have a problem. As Warren Buffet says "its only
when the tide goes out, that we see who is swimming naked" :)

Yup, truckies have a problem, for they are like small farmers.
There are thousands of them, each having little power. A few
large companies decide most of the pricing and they have to wear it.
They play the little guys against each other.

Meantime I am also pleased at present developments. What it means
is that you can forget the concrete jungle as the only way to live.
Urban sprawl is the way to go! People will be able to chuff
around in an electric vehicle, repowered by solar energy, to their
hearts content, all without the oil well owners earning a cent.
That sounds pretty good to me!

Yes and I travel to work today in the firms car powered only by LPG.
370.000 on the speedo never had work on the motor.
We could do worse than use what we have plenty of instead of petrol LPG.

Yabby;
Don't be so complacent about the super funds and other
investment funds.
I wrote to several where I have savings invested and asked them
what steps they were taking to mitigate the effects of peak oil and
the subsequent depletion.
All the answers were from their standard answer sheet no 12567

"We have people who study market trends and keep the fund advised of trends".

Not one of them suggested that they have any specific plan regarding
peak oil and energy plans in particular. One of them seemed to think
I was talking about global warming.

My son is a senior financial planner and he has been to many industry
conferences. In only one case by only one speaker was peak oil mentioned and that was in passing.

These are the people who are managing your money !

Actually they don't manage my money Bazz, as I run my own super
fund. I feel that their charges are too high and its not rocket
science after all, as long as you have an interest in basic
economics.

Frankly I don't think it would be wise if super funds started trying
to predit the future, for as we have seen in the past, people are
invariably wrong and that is how many of them lose every penny.

The idea is that super funds spread their risk over many asset classes
and many industries. So most super funds have a stake in most
industry sectors, from retailing, to mining, to banking.

What we have had recently, was a change in the value of money.
It was far too cheap for far too long, so assets became overvalued
and the fundamentals were ignored. The result was that when the
cost and availability of money increased, (due to the American finance
scandal) inflated asset values came crashing down, to more realistic
levels.

Long term, the value of super funds is linked to the value of
our economy and the global economy. That is because today workers
basically own most of industry, through their super funds.

If industry and the economy crash, so does the value of those
super funds.