Over the next few months, expect the price of oil to look more like a child's ball bouncing on the playground, rather than an actual economic indicator. With events like Katrina causing reactionary peaks with prices, I suspect we will see gasoline at $3.50 a gallon (at least here in San Diego) before Christmas.

I hope the markets prove me wrong, but as we rapidly surpass the median of oil availability left in the world, demand will continue to increase as supply decreases. Basic economics tells us this means prices will continue to rise over time.

Global war with China in the next 20 years over remaining oil resources? Sure. I don't see it as an unlikely possibility. Why not? When they represent 20% of the world population, or 1 out of every 5 humans on Earth, their clout will only continue to increase as they rapidly industrialize.

The United States, on the other hand represents closer to 4.5% of the world population, or 1 out of 22. To this point in history we have capitalized on the world's natural resources, but we now have a very large, and energy hungry competitor for those same resources we've been hoarding.

Sustainable alternative energy anyone?