If the conscience of those Darth Vaders isn't spurred by some serious incentive from forces more powerful than they are, they will exploit all others around them until every last penny is squeezed in their direction. They have nothing to fear. Their power ensures that they personally will survive any catestrophic conditions. Hell, they'll profit immensely from a global energy crisis.

You do realize that the premise behind this statement is that somehow, the people in government who would supposedly do a better job of funneling resources and forcing Americans into patterns of behavior, do not and can not fall into this exact same category of corruption.

In my experience, governments given control over a nation's resources have been far more corrupt in handling it than almost any private endeavor ever has. Witness nations with centralized economies. More specifically, the usual result of handing market power over to the State has been a circle-jerk of corruption between government and "private" industries that combine to crush competition, establish legal monopolies, and otherwise put the fix in as a reward for financial support of the politicians.

Dealing with energy shortages (if any):

- Ease the regulatory burdens on existing industries, allowing them to do the jobs needed.

- Reduce legal and regulatory barriers to alternative energy industries, from solar at one end up to nuclear at the other.

- Send the anti-industrial environmentalists to the tundra to live in yurts over the winter.