I don't doubt there are people looking into the problem, but can you provide details (name of program, funding, etc)? The way politics work in this country (and most others) makes it nearly impossible to solve these problems. All elected officials have term limits, during which they'll do their best to serve their constituent's interest. And constituents (like you and me) generally care about their present day well-being. Americans are too used to instant gratification; they want the best as soon as possible, and they'll reject any politician with future-minded policies that cut into their current quality of life.
I'm not saying armageddon will happen, what I am saying the overall quality of life in this country will keep deteriorating at a faster and faster rate.
As for my research, I've analyzed over 100 articles & websites on both sides (the doomsayers and the naysers). While that doesn't make me an expert, I think my opinion is fairly well-informed. It'll take too long to list them all, but here's a select few from National Geographic, MSNBC, and the Washington Post :
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0406/feature5/index.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6249750/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5080-2004May31.html
Yes, I have studied and debated on both sides (and I even won all my debates on the naysayer side too). So I'm familiar with most of the arguments for either side. And please, I'm not accusing our president (or anyone) of conspiracy. They are doing exactly what they were elected to do: catering to people's short-term wants & needs. They were not voted-in to care about what's gonna happen to the world decades from now.
I hate to say bad things about Hybrid cars and other alternative fuels, but unfortunately things are not that simple. I (and many others) will be driving hybrid cars, but that will only contribute to the problem, not solve it. Every hybrid car takes more energy to manfucature than a conventional car, because of the extra R&D costs. That energy still comes from oil. And consider this, if you gave up on the SUV you bought just 3 yrs ago for a new hybrid, you are disposing of a product much sooner than it's expected life-of-service. All the resources that went into creating that SUV in the first place will be wasted.
The hybrid car fits in perfectly with the idea that you should always buy the latest and the greatest. It's another marketing tool to get people to buy more stuff. People feel good about hybrid cars right now; it has good PR, and of course companies are gonna take advantage. The irony is that they'll roll out products that really aren't more efficient than conventional gas vehicles. For example, the projected efficiency for hybrid SUV's is ~32 mpg. We already have cars (ahem, Civics), that get ~34 mpg. The best thing that people can do that actually benefits EVERYONE is not to buy new vehicles, but to keep whatever they have and use it for as long as possible. But this is hardly realistic, as people will generally do things that are best for themselves before they care about others (I am guilty of this too).
If gas were a normal commidity, then yeah, people will react like you predicted. Unfortunately, the demand for gas is inelastic, (see http://www.mackinac.org/article.asp?ID=1247) meaning people won't change their buying habits much as prices go up.
I do admit that I'm making this sound worse than it probably will be, but we are definitely looking at the end of cheap oil in America and world-wide. A crisis may or may not happen, and even if it does it won't be overnight. It'll be gradual. It remains to be seen whether alternative energy sources can ease the problem. Our best bet right now is nuclear energy, but with it having such a bad rep I doubt there'll be developments in that area.
