1st soldier: Who goes there?
King Arthur: I am Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
1st soldier: What? Ridden on a horse?
King Arthur: Yes!
1st soldier: You're using coconuts!
King Arthur: What?
1st soldier: You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
    — Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The disconnect between peak oil concerns and the presidential race is almost total. As prices at the pump rise, each candidate is now talking about their so-called solutions to the problem. Despite clear new warning signs from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Nigeria that peak oil is nigh, the candidates remain unwaveringly oblivious to the true causes of rising fuel prices, preferring instead to dwell on irrelevant—actually, counterproductive—measures like suspending the federal gas tax during the summer months or taxing Big Oil. This is akin to putting a band-aid on a melanoma.

In an effort to explain the steep climb of the price of oil, a recent New York Times article¹ looked at the increasing worldwide demand and outlined the difficulties the energy industry will face in meeting this demand, which will rise by 35 percent by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency. Halfway through the article, the author noted: "…a small band of skeptics view today’s record prices as evidence that oil supplies have peaked… But most experts believe that there are still enough oil reserves, both discovered and undiscovered, to last at least through the middle of the century. The problem is that in many corners of the world, geopolitics, more than geology, has removed much of those reserves from the reach of independent oil companies…"

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