iwfuutaudls: The whole oil problem is really alot more complex than any of us could understand. Unfortunately, it is also alot more complex than Bush could ever possibly begin to comprehend. Frank Herbert is perhaps the only person who fully understood oil and its effect on global politics.
Tangent: plastics and rubber can be, and are, synthesized without the use of crude oil. It is only the cheap and widely available plastics and rubbers that are manufactured using crude oil. Since our technology enables us to create special rubbers and special plastics which far out-perform conventional ones without the use of crude oil, it is safe to say that, once we do run out of crude oil, we will manufacture conventional plastics and rubbers at a somewhat increased cost but will, none-the-less, still have them available to us as a commodity.
Tangent: BMW is currently selling Hydrogen Powered vehicles everywhere in the world - except North America. For the model year of 2005, BMW has made both the 745 and the 760 sedans capable of running on both conventional gasoline and on hydrogen gas - the method of combustion can be switched from one to the other while the engine is still running. They plan on releasing the 5 series with the same configuration in 2 to 3 years. However, there are no plans as of yet to bring these vehicles to the North American shores.
Tangent: General Motors Corporation along with Shell Corporation have signed an agreement in which Shell is to retrofit all of its gas stations to support and provide hydrogen fuel. GM is to simultaneously build Hydrogen Powered economy vehicles. This contract, unfortunately, does not have a deadline which means that Shell and GM will not roll out Hydrogen Power as a commodity until a decade from now.
Tangent: It is possibly, and very do-able, to retrofit any and all current internal combustion engines to run on Ethanol. There are kits available and any A+ certified mechanic should be able to successfully install these kits. I have seen people who have turned 80's camaros into Ethanol running cars. These vehicles are not only much more powerfull but much, much, cleaner burning. The problem: who the fuck is going to grow and distill billions of gallons of Ethanol for an affordable price? Not the liquor companies! They love charging us 40 dollars for a 750ml bottle of scotch (which is only 40% alc. by volume).