Quote:
Originally Posted by bizaro86
I disagree the economy is more sensitive to oil prices, quite the opposite imo. The percentage of global GDP that is oil related has been constantly declining for years. Both because improvements in technology have kept prices low and because efficiency gains have been significant. Also, the change in industrial composition has been significant as well - the industries we had in the 70s all still exist and efficiency has gone up, but most of the new industries created since then (eg, everything tech) have very low levels of oil as inputs.
|
Agree to disagree on that one. Ever since the West became reliant on China and co for virtually everything transportation and shipping all play a more pivotal role. Add in transfer pricing where raw materials are from
Africa, manufacturing in China, packing in the UK and final product in North America and you can see that fuel plays a far larger role than it did even 30 years ago. Adding to that, the fact that plastics and petrochemicals are growing even more important…