Slipping into the next recession

Sounds like we're getting very close to peak oil production (snippet):

...."We have to face facts. The International Energy Agency has raised demand estimates to 84.3 million barrels per day and that exactly equals worldwide daily consumption," said analyst Phil Flynn in a newsletter. "We're at total equilibrium." "OPEC has reached its production limits," Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said over the weekend. "If it came to a crunch, it has capacity for 1 million barrels." The Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, said Tuesday that OPEC's spare capacity fell to 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day in February, not enough to cover a loss of Iraqi output. The EIA and the International Energy Agency, which monitors oil market conditions for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, both raised their forecasts for 2005 oil demand last week, drawing the picture of a market in which consumption will continue to strain supply. After weeks of oil at above $50 a barrel, Washington is calling on producers to take steps to lower the price. The White House complained Tuesday that rising energy costs were a drag on the U.S. economy. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration was telling oil producers "about the importance of acting in ways that support our growing global economy and our growing U.S. economy."

Combine skyrocketing oil prices with the falling U.S. dollar and it looks like the next "recession" will make the Depression of the 1930's look like a walk in the park. Let's hope the Rapturists residing in the White House come to their senses soon.