I have a hard time seeing nationalization ever happening. The corporate lobbyists have far too much influence. Witness the way the climate bills got watered down and altered to suit the needs of various constituencies. And the same thing will happen with health care reform. Although it was interesting to see how the auto companies seem to have completely lost favor in Washington, whereas Wall St could more or less write the terms and conditions for their own bailouts.

The problem with rationing is how do you decide who gets how much, and how do you prevent people from gaming the system? You might have an elderly person who never drives any more - the kids would be fighting over the ration stamps. You might know someone who has a farm and has an increased allotment, and hence you might find people getting extra from there. You might know someone who has a company that delivers stuff - would that company get an increased allotment? There are all kinds of scenarios, and if too much cheating is perceived to exist, then the credibility of the whole thing is shot.

Last year we already saw gas thefts when gas hit 5$/gallon - primarily larger trucks and SUVs as these have larger tanks and hence more to steal.