Jeff Rubin on the End of Cheap Oil

Canadian economist Jeff Rubin says global oil consumption is unsustainable. And he thinks the world as we know it is in for a change. Some familiar sights he says will disappear: food that’s been frozen and shipped around the world to your plate, and drivers commuting solo for long stretches along the nation’s highways. Not because the world is running out of oil, but because all the cheap oil was burned in your parents’ engines. He says the way forward is to sharply reduce demand for oil and return to localized economies. Jeff Rubin is former chief economist at Toronto investment firm CIBC World Markets. His new book is “Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization.” He spoke at Town Hall in Seattle on June 8, 2009.
KUOW (audio)