Beware of Dark Alleys

I really, truly hope I never meet any of my characters in a dark alley. Not only do they have a reason to be mean to me, I created them and know what they are capable of.

Word Count for Space Rescue
Complete (54,578) Goal (80,000)
68.22% complete
Since Last Post = 820 words

Things accomplished in fiction: J. R. avoids getting her head blown off, for now, and Bam Bam makes a clean getaway.

Peak Oil and the Market

So I got into a discussion about peak oil on Rand Simberg's site. There, the libertarian commenters "educated" me about how there was no such thing as peak oil, and even if there was, the market would fix it.

Then I read in today's Wall Street Journal about how the Department of Defense is trying to develop alternative fuels. Key points of the article:

1) DOD, hardly a nest of liberals, is concerned about peak oil in general and our dependence on foreign oil in particular.

2) The market doesn't want to invest the billions needed for building coal gasification plants unless they get long-term contracts. It's not economical otherwise.

News flash, folks - "the market" is not the be-all to end-all. It's a tool, just like a hammer. You don't typically use hammers to turn screws, so using the market to fix a long-term problem may not be the best idea.