Category Archives: News Related Post

China and US Trade Talks: A Solution for Oil Shortages?

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Gail Tverberg

President Trump of the US and President Xi of China will be meeting in Beijing on May 14-15. This meeting would seem to be the perfect time to start reorganizing the world with shorter trade routes, so that the world economy uses less fuel for transportation. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy, News Related Post, Oil and Its Future, oil shortages | Tagged , , , | 2,123 Comments

Losing the Iran War May Be the Best Outcome for the World

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Gail Tverberg

At this point, the world economy needs to make a major transition in order to deal with the inadequate level of fuels available for long-distance transportation.
It is ironic that the world economy cannot make a change such as this without a war to focus our attention in this direction. Continue reading →

Posted in Energy policy, Financial Implications, News Related Post | Tagged , , | 3,760 Comments

Understanding Deglobalization: The Role of Diesel and Jet Fuel

Posted on February 2, 2026 by Gail Tverberg

While international trade grew as a percentage of GDP between the 1960s and 2008, it has been basically flat since then. Now the shortages of diesel and jet fuel are forcing the international trade percentage to start falling to a lower level. Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, News Related Post | Tagged , | 1,446 Comments

2026: Expect a very uneven world economic downturn

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Gail Tverberg

The Maximum Power Principle strongly suggests that even as limits are hit, the world economy cannot be expected to collapse all at once. Instead, the most efficient producers of goods and services will be able to succeed as long as resources are available, while less efficient producers will tend to fall by the wayside. Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, News Related Post | Tagged , , | 1,895 Comments

What should individuals do in a world filled with conflict?

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Gail Tverberg

Regardless of how things play out, it is the physics of the self-organizing system that determines what happens next. No matter how offended we as individuals may feel regarding what some political party or politician has done or has not done, individuals are not able to fix the system, except to the extent that available inexpensive energy supply allows such a fix. Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications, News Related Post, Planning for the Future | Tagged , , | 1,547 Comments