It must have been quite a show, or, more accurately, a creepy sort of man's heaven. After all, there certainly was no shortage of machismo.

Waiters cruised the lot delivering drinks. Beautiful jump-suited models handed out brochures. And everywhere you looked there were the worlds biggest and most impressive SUVs.

And, of course, there were the men-hundreds of them-eager to get their hands one of the big ones, so to speak.

But while you may think this massive SUV show was held in Las Vegas or Detroit, you would be wrong. It wasn't.

It was actually held much farther south-in Caracas, Venezuela, a land not just of reemergent socialism but a place where gas is practically free.

That's because, unlike here in the States, in oil rich Venezuela gasoline costs as little as 12 cents a gallon-which actually makes it cheaper than water. In fact, it is so cheap that filling up the tank of a monster with high-octane fuel can be done for as little as $3.00.

It is all enough, of course, to make American SUV owners cry. Or at the very least insane with jealously-especially those who can remember when a full tank was only a fin.

And even though average gas prices have dropped more than 82 cents since August 11, plunging the average price of a gallon gas to $2.20, it is not likely to get that much better.

At least that is what Eric Cheney, a University of Washington economic geologist, said in a press release that was widely read over the weekend. He noted that gas prices today, when adjusted for inflation, are roughly what they were early in the 20^th century.

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Prices, he said, only seem inordinately high today because just eight years ago the $10-a-barrel price was extremely low compared to the recent high of $78.

The results, of course, have been the wild price swings as the markets have adjusted to the new realties of supply and demand.

But while Cheney's comments on the current price of gas were somewhat soothing, his comments about future prices were less optimistic.

In fact, they were downright bleak.

While his assertion that we will never run out oil grabbed all of the headlines, he went on to say that getting to those resources will be more costly in the future.

For instance, he said that while changing economics, technological advances and efforts such a recycling and substitution make the world's mineral resources virtually infinite, getting to deposits such as tar sands, organic matter and coal deposits is another matter altogether, at least in terms of price.

"The most common question I get is, ‘When are we going to run out of oil?' The correct response is ‘Never,'" said Cheney.

But more tellingly, he also said, "It might be a heck of a lot more expensive than it is now, but there will always be some oil available at a price, perhaps at $10 to $100 a gallon."

And therein lies the cold, hard reality of his press release, even if his statement that oil is limitless managed to garner all the attention.

Gas prices are likely headed higher over time-especially with the emergence of China and India as oil-hungry economies.

So even amid glee over the limitlessness of our mineral resources there is a measure of gloom about future prices-something we have been pointing out all along.

The real question is not whether oil will eventually run out, but what it is going to cost us in the future.

And that answer is certainly a lot less optimistic than the headlines.

That is, unless you are lucky enough to live in Venezuela.

There, the gas is practically free-or so they say.

But then again, what do you expect from a phony, temporarily oil-rich socialist utopia that is disconnected from reality?