There are a couple significant upsides to higher fuel costs. As has been pointed out, encouraging more efficient vehicles is one. (We have two cars, a 2001 Acura, 6 cyl. 230 HP, 25-28 mpg. and my car, a '94 Toyota Camry 4 cyl. 180 HP, 27-31 mpg. These are actual milage figures we compute every time we fill up. The backseats in the Camry fold down and you would not believe the stuff I can haul in that baby.)
But another is that higher transportation costs to import goods, plus the weak dollar, is causing many domestic manufacturers to bring operations back to the states and rehire more people.
This will help to finance the coming socialist revolution. I'm tired of working anyway. I'm voting Democrat from now on and letting the government take care of us. Every cloud has a silver lining.