"Oil, Credit, And The Shifting Balance of Power" by Dr. Edmund Clingan

starts about 5 minutes in ................. h/t The Excavator .................... From CUNY Queensborough......................... ''Oil is the key. American production peaked in 1970. After this, American wages stagnated and other problems developed. The supergiant fields of Alaska could not arrest the decline, and tripling the oil rigs since 2009 has only stabilized the declined. Counting lower-energy liquified natural gas and ethanol as "oil" only masks the problem. As global oil production hit a ceiling around 2006, it forced the energy conservation the the U.S. has long avoided and fractured a precarious structure. In some ways, an "oil standard" had replaced the gold standard. Its enormous value enabled unprecedented credit and spectacular economic growth. Oil today is still cheap (relative to its value) and will remain cheap even as more people cannot afford gasoline. A cup of gasoline is cheaper than a cup of coffee. As oil production slows and the export market shrinks, it becomes more difficult for countries to exert far-flung influence. The current crisis masks the start of a long emergency: the transition to a new energy system of unknown consumption. The new balance of power will depend on how nations deal with this transition.''