Sunday's NYT on addiction

First, Tom Friedman:

When a person is addicted to crack cocaine, his problem is not that the price of crack is going up. His problem is what that crack addiction is doing to his whole body. The cure is not cheaper crack, which would only perpetuate the addiction and all the problems it is creating. The cure is to break the addiction.

Ditto for us. Our cure is not cheaper gasoline, but a clean energy system. And the key to building that is to keep the price of gasoline and coal — our crack — higher, not lower, so consumers are moved to break their addiction to these dirty fuels and inventors are moved to create clean alternatives.

Second, David Carr:

After shooting or smoking a large dose, there would be the tweaking and a vigil at the front window, pulling up the corner of the blinds to look for the squads I was always convinced were on their way. All day. All night. A frantic kind of boring. End-stage addiction is mostly about waiting for the police, or someone, to come and bury you in your shame.

The end result of these two quotes put together, I think, is true. There is a certain segment of American society - not limited to hardcore environmentalists - who want to see the United States punished economically for over consuming oil (and everything else for that matter). It is a cleansing method, a penance we must pay for our sins.

And I'm guessing, that regardless of if we want it, the economic pain is coming (or has already started).