We have to add that "virtual tax" to the other "virtual tax" , namely the cost of deploying our entire friggin' military to prop up this dying and suicidal energy system. The cost of maintaining two carrier groups in the Gulf, the cost of occupying and destroying sovereign nations, the cost of oil subsidies and ecological disasters, etc, etc... The financial cost, and the spiritual cost, as well. We are junkies, the lot of us, and we're facing the worst cold turkey since Rome's collapse led to the Dark Ages. And no, nobody benefits but the PusherMan.