This will appear as as strange post, but it is very relevant. It is not about political gamesmanship or the campaigns, but it directly relates. It is about fuel prices and how they have structured our society , and how they affect us now. I do not agree with everything said here or claim to read the future, but the predictions have been coming true, and the data is real. The cheap easy to get liquid hydrocarbons we have based our life on are going or getting more expensive to process and extract, and people within the U.S. in general and locally need to deal with the reality that 40 mile commutes will not be affordable for many people anymore ( Listen planners and local boosters). We have to find a way out for transport and how we live. The first section is a Russian author who compares the Soviet collapse and the similarities he sees in the U.S. now; especially the flat out denial of reality. I will add another link to a speech by Matthew Simmons, an oil investment banker. It is a long speech, but he exposes the reality of the world's oil fields and lack of discoveries since the 1960's. This relates to the complaints of high gas prices and the new proposed solutions. All of them are about keeping the cars and trucks going as they are now, or smaller vehicles. It is ethanol, North Dakota, or Oil Sands. It is never our transport system, or 5000 people commuting 30 miles in a four ton vehicle. Or our food system, producing packaged junk in a box to be shipped 1500 miles. As prices go up, the poor will suffer first, especially as ethanol is used to give the wealthier the fuel to drive around. So here are the links: here and here