I'm not quite sure about whether Peak Oil is true or not. If it is, then I'm extremely skeptical that it would cause an economic collapse. As soon as fossil fuels become more expensive than alternative energy forms, the latter would become immensely profitable. At that point, a
tremendous amount of private R&D would be done to figure out how to produce, deliver, and use these alternative energy sources more cheaply and efficiently. As these new sources replaced oil, gas, and coal in the marketplace, the new forms would get cheaper and more easily accessible as their technology vastly improved.
Basically, I'm guessing that energy prices (in inflation-adjusted terms) will peak in the late 2010s decade. Around that time we might see alternative energy forms replace fossil fuels if Peak Oil is true. Then in the 2020s and '30s, there'd be a
strongly bearish trend in the price of energy as these new forms become cheaper and better to use.
On Iraq, just remember this phrase:
Politics & war: when in doubt, follow the money. I think it was done to appease the most powerful lobbyists in DC.
The economy is in bad shape because of the Federal Reserve System and the continued gargantuan growth of the U.S. government. We're also in Kondratieff Winter now (since 2000), unlike K-Autumn during the 1980s & '90s.
That's my cheap, devalued two cents on this stuff, at least.
