Although the credit crunch was triggered by subprime mortgage lending, Jeff Rubin (former chief economist for a Canadian bank) thinks at the root of it, the problem is oil. He points out that not only are the Middle Eastern oilfields depleted, but the OPEC countries themselves are consuming more and more of it themselves. Oil prices currently are a barrier to globalization, and we may have passed the peak for the global import/export economy. Every day we lose 4 million barrels of oil due to depletion, that has to be made up for by new finds just to maintain current production. Although oil sands etc may provide a new source, the environmental implications are enormous esp water pollution. (from the Big Issue)