Lucky for us, the United States ruined the Iraqi oil production, and recent troubles in Libya and Iran will keep prices high for a while. If oil prices slide we will have great difficulties. And if hybrid vehicles get popular our petroleum will be among the first to be useless for anything except paving roads. Imports have been rising because we cannot feed ourselves. The only reason imports fell last year is because we couldn't pay for more food. That's not good, as each year, as we have seen, there are more of us.