I just read an interesting site saying that the world will start running out of oil in just a few years. Oil production would peak and then fall, basically creating chaos for industrialized nations such as the USA.
It states some pretty solid proof and when I googled the subject, many sites seem to support it. Maybe it explains the increasingly higher gas prices? Its rumured around here that prices in PA will go up to like $3/gal from ~$1.6/gal. Democrats say its to persuade people to buy economy/hybrid cars and not buy SUVS.
Some of it may be exagerated but overall, it appears to be true. Here's the site:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
EDIT: I read somewhere else that the war in Iraq (among other less important issues) was due to Iraq changing its oil currency to euros to sell to France. That change secures oil for France and makes it real expensive to USA considering that Iraq has 11% of the world's oil supply. These two theories support each other.