Bush threatens Saudies: produce more or we’ll use less!

January 16, 2008 by Rob.

Showing off spectacular logic, the President encouraged the oil producing Arab countries to boost production and lower prices. Failure to do so would lead US to reduce demand! Oh no!

Their response was essentially, “US who? Our main customers are China and India.”

Here is the simple reality. The US per capita oil consumption is already so egregiously high, that we really don’t have anywhere to go but downward.  That’s especially true if you score it per average family income. However, per capita consumption in China and India has the potential to surge dramatically.

This is underscored by the recent $2500 car announcement from Indian car company Tata motors. They are one of several companies vying to be the Model-T for the developing world.  They hope to enable every PacRim family to dramatically increase their per capita consumption.  It may be fuel efficient by our standards, but they are being sold to people who currently don’t own cars!   To contrast, new cars in the US typically replace other cars.

Did you feel it?  The world stage is shifting.

PS: Tata just bought Jaguar and Land Rover.

PPS: Hang on to those SUVs. You may not be able to afford to gas them up, but the steel in their bodies is going to worth a lot of $$$ in the future.

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