Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Globalization

October 29, 2010

Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Globalization

How the world economy will respond to its re-encounter with triple digit oil prices. Will peak oil = peak GDP. Or can we make our economy less thirsty for oil? What do subprime mortgages, Atlantic salmon dinners, SUVs and globalization all have in common? They depend on cheap oil.

According to Jeff Rubin, we are poised on the brink of massive change. Dependent as it is on cheap oil, our global civilization is about to get the shock of its life. Systems of trade, of finance, of shipping and manufacturing, of labor and international relations are all about to be rearranged. Get ready for a new world—one in which domestic manufacturing will be reinvigorated and the products and services we still enjoy will start coming from places much closer to home.

JEFF RUBIN was the Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets for almost twenty years. He was one of the first economists to accurately predict soaring oil prices back in 2000 and is now one of the world’s most sought-after energy experts. He lives in Toronto.

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