Peak Oil Dilema - High Price Will Kill the Economy Long Before We Run Out

The peak oil dialogue is miscast around when the absolute supply of oil will peak and or be used. The couple of forecast lines in the good summary in National Geographic of infinite supply leave out one key piece of information -- price; at what price is the supply infinite? At no price that a robust economy can afford is the answer!!  Long before oil supply peaks or is exhausted, price increases will cause dramatic economic dislocation and disruption, and begin to finally send the price signal to society via the free market that oil is not the energy of the future; that the economy built on cheap oil is over and never coming back. Unless a cheap substitute is found, the golden goose of free enterprise will increasingly be able to provide less and less to more and more.  With a roughly 50% increase in the global population forecast by mid-century, that is an increase of 2.5 billion people, the transition to a renewable energy economy of abundance within the next 10-20 years is one of the critical-path sustainability challenges. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/world-oil/roberts-text