NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - I can't help but think back to the recent roaring 1990s, when so many smart tech-stock pickers, and technology fund managers told us that energy prices didn't matter -- we had entered a new, information-driven economy that didn't depend on such old-fashioned fundamentals.

Oh, how Mother Nature, terrorists, and, above all, an energy-sucking world of computers and cars has proven them wrong!

Oil is spiking up again today as Ivan bears down on the Gulf of Mexico and "insurgents" blow up oil facilities in Northern Iraq. Is it any wonder that here at home, employers are still hiring cautiously, according to the latest Manpower Survey?

Higher gas prices have already taken a bite out of consumer spending, and as winter approaches rising natural gas prices and higher home heating oil prices could also take pinch.

And the big question now, for OPEC, for the Fed, for companies, is at what point do oil stocks pile up and bring prices tumbling back to earth.

The bigger question may be whether global demand is increasing so much that prices never get "back to earth" but continue to orbit in a new, higher stratosphere.  

Kathleen Hays anchors CNN Money Morning and The FlipSide, airing Monday to Friday on CNNfn. As part of CNN's Business News team, she also contributes to Lou Dobbs Tonight.