Get ready for the biggest tragedy in American history. If the price of gasoline ever goes above five bucks a gallon, millions of gas guzzling automobiles will be worthless. Filling up a full tank will then cost over one hundred bucks. With a recession coming on and the unemployment rate rising many of those gas guzzlers will be unaffordable. Most will have to be turned into scrap metal. Many workers who can’t afford a new car will have to piggyback with a neighbor that is traveling in their direction or walk to the bus stop.

People looking to buy a new car want fuel efficiency before anything else. They are the only cars on display at the auto shows. The sales of motorcycles have also increased because most of them can travel over fifty miles on a gallon of gas. You can expect within five years to see as many motorcycles on the highway as autos if the price of gas keeps rising.

There is no solution for the problem of high cost gasoline. Labor and refinery costs are rising combined with its limited supply. The hard facts have to be faced that gasoline costs will continue to be high. But with flexibility motorists can get used to a smaller more fuel efficient automobile or even a motorcycle.

The high gasoline costs might make it too expensive to travel a long distance to shop at the mall. That would be good news for the small businessman. It would bring back the "Mom and Pop" stores to your neighborhood. It would even help you to get to know your neighbors better. Big businesses might start opening up close by in order to be near their employees. There would be less congestion on the highway and cleaner air. The high price of gasoline might be a blessing in disguise and create a better lifestyle for most of us.