That’s a lot of fancy graphs. Lets start from the top. Global oil production still increased, and according to
http://www.globalfirepower.com/list_oil_proven.asp (btw, Iran has about 14% of the worlds total reserves, not 80%), there is still about 900 billion barrels left, more so now because of recent finds in Brazil, and others in the north sea of the coast of Norway. So, no, chances are we have not hit peak oil, and at this point, when there has been several finds just within the past few months its premature to say that we have hit peak oil. Just like with most historical events, we won’t know when we’ve hit that point until well after the fact.
While I appreciate you’re graphs about the US, it just lends to my argument that your middle eastern countries who have been “expanding at a rapid rate” will come no where near the combined 33% of world oil that the US and China consumes; a decrease of anywhere between 1-3% demand of oil is like taking Russia or Spain off that graph completely; something that would have a sizeable effect on the price of oil.
And, after re-reading my argument, I don’t think I’ve ever made the claim that US oil production has risen, or have made any comment on US domestic oil production other then we should drill in ANWR, North Dakota and use the “tar sand” regions of Colorado, much like the Canadians have exploited theirs. And, correct me if I’m wrong- you failed to provide estimates- ANWR has not been fully explored; hence any estimate on how long it would last is premature, again.
I’m not, and never have, said its impossible for the US to undergo food shortages, I’m saying its extremely unlikely. If the rest of the world is in a food crisis, and it spreads here, we’ll simply cut off food exports; something that can be easily resumed once stability returns. It is considerably harder to restart an economy with half its work force unable to work due to years of starvation. Again; if things are “that bad” we as Americans will look out for other Americans first; that means ensuring we have food. But wait, lets look at your next point, if food prices drop due to a decreased dependence on ethanol, then the food crisis abroad will likely be a temporary (1 year) ordeal, because unless the weather is bad this year (i.e., a 2 week snow storm in China that cut rice production) things will stabilize out.
What agricultural product is grown in the south west? None that I can think of off the top of my head; and certainly if it was a huge problem, I’m sure someone would have said something like “what about commodity x?” in the past 10 years. The only problem the south west has is an increasing population and not enough water to go around. The whole food issue is overblown, the fact that it HAS happened before suggests a trend can be created, and using historical data, its likely to be a temporary issue; humans will adapt and find new places to grow these things or the strange weather of this past winter will not be a constant factor in future years.