[Stratovarius]

rare earth may be china's checkmate

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n 1992, Deng Xiaoping, then ruler of China, put the world on notice with the following statement:

“There is oil in the Middle East; there is rare earth in China.”

[FourOfSwords]

Oil isn't the only thing screwing the US...yep, it's also the 1 in 4 females with an std from the thread below this one...
Alex

[Mechler]

The US imports 100% of many (20+) metals and minerals. I think the USGS put out a chart recently showing this data - I'll try to dig it up. During the '70s oil shocks, they took petroleum out of their data. Presumably, they didn't want to show the vulnerability of the US since we were having such a problem with oil when it was WAY down the list of of important minerals/resources in terms of percentage imported. Granted, you're average Joe doesn't use vanadium or germanium to get to work everyday - but maybe the plant he works in needs it to stay open.

Of course, this highlights oils importance even more, since it is used to mine and ship these other resources. Inflation, anyone?