 Frog in the water
I think this will be like the frog in the water story, where, if you drop a frog in boiling water, it will jump right out, but if you slowly heat the water, the frog stays until it boils to death. The oil companies would do well (not saying this is what I would like to happen) to slowly raise the price through little shocks. Keep in mind that people are still buying gas even though in 1996 when I lived in Virginia Beach and gas was still $1.03 a gallon, people said they would never pay $3 a liter for gas like they did in Europe. All it took was time for them to change their minds. The only way that the oil companies can lose if for the masses to demand that alternative fuel sources or energy supplies be researched and implemented. Regardless of how much crude oil still exists, it is still not a never ending supply. Even if they drilled tomorrow and found a supply with 3 trillion gallons, it will eventually run out - certainly not in our lifetimes, but in our children's future. As to whether it will destroy the middle class - I highly doubt that. It may move the numbers used to quantify the middle class, but to eliminate it completely? There will always be a middle class, and if you think about history, there really always has been. The degree of flourishing has changed with economic gyrations and new technologies, but they have still always been there.
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