"They _can_ buy more oil, but they _choose_ not to. It is always about tradeoffs. The fact that we choose not to pay more is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness."

I don't know about that. I think the graph of debt levels of the whole US says that we really don't have that flexibility.
You have two guys : one makes $100K with $300K debt, the other guy makes $5K but he has $10K in cash. Now, who has more flexibility when the amount of jobs (which relates to energy) goes down -- who will in the end has more flexibility. Hard to say, but if both guys lose their jobs tomorrow; that guy with $100K job will be begging the guy with $5K job for food.

Until there is some sort of job security (which translates to economic growth which goes against population and energy) and that debt level is paid off -- that guy with $300K debt really doesn't have that much flexibility he thinks. Sure, he can charge $5K on his credit card to go to Florida or not but that doesn't really mean he's in control of his finance.