You could argue that we're in the middle of the first energy crisis of the 21st century.
While gas prices are finally on the way back down, the recent surge is driving inflation and has consumers thinking much more about where their oil comes from.
When I last wrote about oil production, the shocking "secret" was that the largest importer of oil into the U.S. was Canada - and that most of our oil was produced within the U.S.
via visualcapitalist
While the U.S. is the largest producer of Oil, OPEC is the largest organization. OPEC accounts for 35% of total production, with Saudi Arabia accounting for a third of OPEC's output.
Almost half of the world's oil production comes from The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
Also, despite being the world's largest oil producer, the U.S. is still a net importer of oil.
Supply constraints on oil - as a result of sanctions on Russia - are creating a price increase with skyrocketing demand from mid-pandemic levels. Combine that with OPEC refusing to increase production to meet demand, and you have an energy shortage.
The U.S. has already started releasing barrels from its strategic reserves, and we've seen gas prices go down as a result, but it remains to be seen if our efforts will be enough to curb the shortage.
What else do you think we should be doing?
Where Are Children Being Born?
Everyone knows that children are our future. They're the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and workers. Countries that are having a natural decrease in population due to families not having children will likely find themselves becoming less important on the geopolitical stage.
While the future is often hard to predict, here is easy “prediction” (that is much less of a prediction than it is simple math). In order to predict how many 18-year-olds there will be in a particular country in fifteen years, simply count the 3-year-olds there now. Yes, there will be some death or migration … but it is an easy way to get a sense of some important mega-trends.
With that said, the U.S. saw many states with more deaths than births in 2020 and 2021.
So, where are children being born?
India, China, and Africa all are seeing massive population growth. America is still net positive. It's also worth noting that India and China are topping the list because they already have such large populations. Their birth rates are actually slightly below average.
On a longer term scale, it's also worth noting that population growth has been declining since the 1960s. Partly due to education, wealth, and the move from rural to urban living.
Slowing population growth means a larger portion of the population is older. As median age increases, there are lots of potential economic consequences.
It's an interesting compounding of consequences.
We'll see if the countries with the largest population growth have the economy and infrastructure to support that growth.
Posted at 10:52 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Healthy Lifestyle, Ideas, Market Commentary, Science, Trading, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
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