Remove the oil and look at the exports. There is nothing there. Without oil most of these countries didn't even have agriculture that could support their populations. Since the West has developed oil into fueling the industrial revolution, they have been able to sell resource commodities that have enabled some form of government, infrastructure and livelihood. Remove all that and you have Somalia. There is no other industry set up to cover the loss of that money.
When you go to the hospital to have the life saving surgery on your kid after an accident, you don't argue about the cost, and entitlement. You tell the doctor to do what ever they have to do and save your kid. Supply and demand control all. If the price here gets to steep, people will stop buying and find other methods of transportation. In Toronto there is an army of electric bike commuters in the warm weather. Because it's cheaper that a car, no cost parking and you pay for the fuel on your electric bill which is way cheaper than gas and the transit system,
Still there are millions of cars on the road in the GTA. Tax makes up the largest portion of the gas bill. No chance that is going to come down at all. People still buy gas. So we'll use all theirs first, then we'll look at our own.
That someone thinks that's stupid because they can't afford $1.20 a liter for gas, wait til it's up to $4.00 a liter. There will still be demand and none of the environmental blocks that are now in place will stand.
When the oil runs out in North Africa and the Middle East, the only wars there will be the tribal squirmishes that have go on since before time.
