That's the $5 per gallon question, isn't it? You can decide to play their game better and find ways to 'be the gasoline' of their future, or be your own source of power, food, transport, etc, or anything you can imagine to deal with the circumstances. I suppose that the point is really to step back and question what your value is to yourself, your place, your people etc, without letting the comically oversized marketplace burn you up for a nickel and bullshit you with proposals that are only meant as a bluff to keep every country from doing a Sri Lanka at the same time.
I apologize for the downer-ness of the story. Maybe it should have a warning from the Surgeon General.