$5 a gallon? It's not coming fast enough.  And I wouldn't be opposed to a bit of a government push on that matter. Let's say an extra 10 cents/gallon tax (28.4 cents/gallon instead of 18.4 cents/gallon?)

According to John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell Oil, it's highly likely that gasoline prices at the pump will hit $5 per gallon in the summer of 2012, essentially because of the continuing growth of the Chinese and Indian economies, and a probable American continued recovery in 2011.

The immediate effect on the economy would be increase sales of hybrid and electric cars, decrease sales of gas-guzzling SUVs, and a steady creation of green jobs!  Use the additional gasoline tax revenue to increase energy efficiency project tax breaks, and we'll see even more of a boom in the residential solar and wind industries.

With the current US gasoline consumption at about 9 million barrels a day, an additional tax of 10 cents per gallon is an extra $1.1 billion a month of revenue that could be used to create consumer tax subsidies hybrid car purchases, or solar or wind residential installations.  At $5,000 per household, that's about 220,000 households per month who would benefit.

So given that kind of huge economic benefit, what's an extra 10 cents per gallon when the price is going to go from $3 to $5 per gallon?

Call me crazy, but I think it's a good thing. The faster we reduce the consumption of fossil fuels (especially the imported kind), the better for the environment, the economy, and the security of this country.   Many people won't be happy, but they'll agree that it's a necessity and it'll help up convert faster to a green economy and energy independence.