If the government can stay out of this (and this includes Republicans resisting influence from the "oil industry"), the problem will fix itself.
There is no evidence of this. You seem to be treating this like the simplistic examples capitalists love to use to explain market efficiency. You know, like the local shoe salesman who charges too much for shoes contrary to demand, so he goes out of business. Or the local ice cream man who makes sour ice cream, so he loses business to an ice cream maker whose product is sweet and creamy.
But do you really not understand that crude is a global commodity, and that the US government has no power at all to control the price of crude? DO you not understand that the price of gasoline has gone up and down pretty much in parallel with the way it has in other countries? The only thing our government can realistically do is try to implement measures to reduce demand, which should be viewed as a national security issue in my view. Increasing supply from US oil fields is a joke of a suggestion. At best we're talking about a drop in the bucket compared to the output from other countries. You mention OPEC but don't seem to fully understand their role and influence. It is funny you worry about some possible economic collapse due to China refusing to purchase treasuries, but at the same time you have no problem with our energy being controlled by oil producing nations who have a history in using oil as a weapon against us. For
this reason alone we should be desperately trying to move towards alternative forms of energy. We rely on countries who hate us. They supply us with out primary source of energy. But you seem to think we don't need them as much as we do. As if the USA could produce enough oil for its own purposes. That's simply not the case. We are dependent on oil from other countries, and without it our economy would collapse.
You say when the oil runs out, it will be all hunky-dory because then we'll just move to some other form of energy. Well you seem to think there needs to be no transition phase, as if we can all just afford to switch to $400,000 electric cars over night. That's the whole point of the government trying to move our nation to energy dependence. Let the market do its thing but at least get the ball rolling by increasing demand so that such a market can mature. And for that reason demand for alternative energy is on the rise. Technological advancements have improved the efficiency of the life of solar panels, battery life, etc, all thanks to investment funded by government. If left to the free market alone, we'd still be at square one and that's where we'd be up until the time energy providers decided to move away from petroleum.
There won't be much chaos. As supplies slowly dwindle and oil fields get taken off-line, the price will go up. This increase in price will encourage suppliers to find additional sources for oil, as well as encouraging consumers to find alternative forms of energy.
Again, it is amazing that you think this won't cause chaos. Do you have no earthly clue how dependent we are on oil? Given the outrageous level of demand now, imagine what it would be at some future point the oil begins to run out. The prices would increase tenfold easily within a week, which means the price of everything else will skyrocket accordingly. Pizza places will go out of business because no one is going to pay $80 for a pizza to be delivered, just because the delivery guy has to spend $40 per gallon of gas. Fast food places will go out of business because no one will want to spend that kind of money just to get a bite to eat. I mean this are just a couple of examples and the tip of the iceberg.
It won't be "chaos" as long as the government can stay out of it.
You can't even begin to make sense of this. The government has done nothing, I repeat NOTHING, that could negatively affect the supply and demand of crude. You haven't even tried to present examples, but instead just keep inserting this Right Wing article of faith (the market will fix itself without government) as if it should be taken for granted. I'm sure you've learned nothing from recent history that sheds light on that myth.