Doug Casey: It's said that war is nature's way of teaching Americans geography. It can now be said that diesel is another way of teaching them geography—plus chemistry. And they're getting a graduate degree in it right now. The wars in the Ukraine, Iran, and now Houthiland have doubled the price of fuels in the last six months. And I believe they're going higher.

As my colleague John Hunt shows, oil, gas, and diesel were much higher in real terms not so long ago. Like almost all questions in today's highly regulated world, the answer to why this is has both a technical and a political component. Even though civilization runs on oil, very few Americans know anything about it, or have any contact with it beyond a visit to the gasoline pump. Diesel is something only some blue-collar workers and truckers consider.

Few Americans drive diesel cars. But almost half of Europe drives diesels. Why might that be? Largely taxes. In the US, diesel has typically cost more per gallon than regular gasoline, but at $6.50 per gallon it's now about $2 per gallon more. Europeans are paying around $10 per gallon for either gas or diesel. The difference is taxes. As bad as they are in the US, they're much worse in Europe. Considering that Europeans typically have 20-30% less disposable income than Americans, their standard of living is collapsing. The peasants around the world might become very restless.

American families don't use much diesel in their cars