I have two financial regrets - one, that I didn't short housing builders like TOL the day after Katrina hit (I could practically hear the housing bubble pop and told many people the same that day), and two, that I don't have the funds to get into oil futures and precious metals today.

My family had oil wells/oil rights (now all sold for the reason to follow) in the Cherokee Basin in Oklahoma. http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/backyard/sections/southcentral/southcentral1.html

These wells are now dry or producing so little oil as to be running at a loss, and therefore closed/capped off.

I agree with you as to the oil futures (in the short term) but it will all go bust after the supply becomes near exhaustion. The real future is in alternative fuels. I'd put my money there and hope for the nations to wake up and swing that way in the near future.