The Oil of Christmas Future….

In the last 9 years, holiday retail sales have increased 50% to $475 billion, a decent chunk of a $13 trillion total GDP. As we’ve discussed (in detail!) here over the past 2 years, oil is the lifeblood of our transportation system, and thus our economy. Below is a short Christmas post showing the trend of holiday sales, US oil production and US oil imports.


…This year, the neuro-marketers have spun their evolutionary algorithm-tripping magic yet again, as estimates for holiday retail sales are for a record $470 billion dollars. What are we really buying with that sum? Christmas has seemingly become a cultural routine with a bit of ‘unexpected reward’ at the apex, followed by a gradual let down. At least in US, it at times is reminiscent of a milder version of a Las Vegas air junket – on the way there everyone is happy and giddy and social and on the way back they are sleepy and crabby and poorer. This post is not advocating a dismantling of Christmas, though I must admit, Bill Mckibben’s book, “Hundred Dollar Holiday” had an impact on me –”Enough” wasn’t too shabby either – (IMO, Bill is a national treasure – we would do well to follow his inspired thoughts). In fact this post isn’t advocating anything. I wanted to see the stats, which in retrospect are rather obvious, but may be lost amidst the holiday glitz and eggnog: United States christmas sales (and GDP for that matter) are a function of the oil we import, not the oil we produce. This should be no surprise – lets look at the numbers…

The Oil Drum