Tipping Points

The more I think about this gas increase, the more I think we're at a critical tipping point. For the first time in my life I'm actually computing how much I'm paying for gas before I get in the car. And I'm seriously considering getting a more fuel-efficient vehicle than my Wrangler, even though I'm now a poor grad student.

Could we finally be arriving at the price that will break the back of the country's love affair with SUV's and (in rural areas at least) pickup trucks? I hope so. Unfortunately that would also likely put GM and Ford out of business, since trucks account for something like 150% of their profits last I heard. But the auto industry is nowhere near as important to the economy as it used to be.

There are now signs that energy prices are hurting in other ways. Yesterday Wal-Mart cited gas prices cutting into their customers' pocketbooks as the reason for their declining second-quarter sales. And while rising energy prices have had surprisingly little effect on inflation until recently, the consumer and producer price indexes were way up in July. Another tipping point?

Finally, the Iraq war seems to have reached a tipping point. War opponents seem to have found a champion in Cindy Sheehan, and it is becoming obvious even to many was supporters that there is no way to win.