So the deed is done, the U.S. has now officially been rated AA+ for an entire trading day during which the S&P took the ratings axe to many U.S. institutions. Many people who have read this blog probably look at it with an overly negative outlook. Please now look back at all of my posts and notice they revolve around two themes. The price of oil & the collapse of the USD.
I've been clear about three things in particular:
1) The USD will collapse.
2) The price of oil will not rise continually enough to sustain the oil sands developments, and the failing America's will not be able to afford it.
3) Alberta's failure will be due to lack of diversification or having all of our eggs in a failing market.
They are really not complex principles. Hard to believe maybe.. back in April, or March. Or if you followed me on Facebook before I moved to twitter/this blog for the two years on there in Canadians for an Energy Revolution. But are they hard to believe now?
I have to tell you all, I'm pissed. I do not write about these issues to be a "downer". I write about them because NOBODY is discussing them. I don't *want* Alberta to fail, but it WILL fail unless we address these issues now, TODAY. For over two years I have been posting news, writing blogs, emailing the legislature and parliament, and nobody wants to address a U.S.A. failure and the implications on Canada.
I don't have solutions for you. I'm not going to lay out any plans for you to follow. This is a job for the community to do. The communities around Alberta collectively need to discuss the very real and imminent problems in the economy that will be caused by maintaining the oil sands projects. They need to figure out how to adapt their economies away from an industry that puts multiple projects on hold if the price drops. This "stop and go" mentality is my main reasoning for my negative outlook on oil sands production capacity along with the three points above.
Extreme oil price volatility will be a fact of life now until 1 of 2 things happen:
1) U.S.A. stabilizes (won't happen)
2) USD is dropped as the reserve currency of the world. I've written a bit about this scenario here.
And Edmonton, for god's sake stop bothering with the stupid arena project already. Does our city counsel not understand that the world has big problems on it's doorstep? Canada is not invincible, it may seem so now but as I've said before we will be near the bottom of the list of countries affected. This is because we won't see a massive drop in revenue until our trade partners can't afford the costs involved. At this point, we will be hit fast and hard.
A chain-reaction is happening right now, as I write this. The last support in the U.S.A. economic house of cards has fallen and the debt collapse I spoke of on Friday is underway.
* Update | 08/09/2011: Seems that OPEC has now revised it's oil demand outlook downward once again. One of the reasons cited is the cost of oil hampering economic growth. Look back to point 2, The price of oil will not rise continually enough to sustain the oil sands developments, and the failing America's will not be able to afford it.
* Update | 11/09/2011: MSM articles about Canada's U.S. dependent economy are starting to emerge ( article1, article2 ). It's only a matter of time now before the truth is obvious and in our faces.
* Update | 17/09/2011: Will Canadian oil go to China instead of the U.S.? What Stefan doesn't understand in this interview is that it is not "individuals" from China investing in oilsands. It is the government of China investing. All oil in China is state run.
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