Over a Barrel

As if global warming wasn't enough reason to ween ourselves of oil, Alan Durning presents the following graph showing oil price rises and recessions.


He notes that the increased oil prices (since 2003) took hundreds of billions out of the US economy. Possibly the sudden rise in price also made some families unable to keep up with their sub-prime home loans. He concludes that less oil addiction would make us less vulnerable to price shocks.