Oil prices must rise much more to alter behavior

I have always, always seen the Peak oil argument presented that it's about an economic exchange where at a certain point (thus the arguments about predictions come in), the cost of getting a barrel of oil out of harder-to-get sources starts to make it less and less economically and otherwise feasible.

Peak oil is one of those arguments loved by doomsters and the economically illiterate and innumerate. After all, many resources are fixed in supply, from oil to coal to gold. If the supply of oil shrinks, the price will rise, helping to wean us of oil. It is simply a question of price adjustment.

After all, with many in Europe enjoying similar income levels as Americans, despite all those taxes which make petrol in all European countries so much more expensive than in the US, prices must rise much more to alter behavior.