China surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest auto market is so last year’s news (Chart 6). In fact, China now sells more cars than the U.S., Canada and Mexico combined. The most light vehicles ever sold in a single year in the U.S. was 17.3 million in 2000, a level China is on pace to surpass. Not surprisingly, China is now the biggest energy consumer in the world, and is the world’s fifth largest oil producer. And in another measure of how the BRICs now dominate, Russia is again the world’s largest oil producer and Brazil has not only surpassed Venezuela, but will soon be the biggest oil producer in Latin America (ahead of Mexico).
In one sense, things seem to change only glacially. But, surprising, sometimes and in some ways things change rapidly. The fall from pre-eminence of the US is now gaining speed. Sadly, the political leaders in the US never "consulted" with the population about their policies that have brought the downfall. Worse, the political leaders still strut and prance as it the US was still top dog. But that day is gone. The poor American citizen finds himself in the clutches of a decade-long recession, high unemployment, taxes soon to rise, bankruptcies at all levels of government. Things will be very gloomy. All because leaders refused to be honest with the citizens and because the leaders sold out to the ultra-rich to destroy the economy for a flash-in-the-pan few decades of incredible growth in income and wealth for the top 0.1% of the population.
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