In July 2008, oil peaked at slightly more than $150 per barrel, having more than doubled in 12 months.  As a result, gas at the pump peaked at something in excess of $4.50 a gallon in July of 2008.

The seeds of the recent perfect storm now called the Great Recession were actually planted in the mid and late 1990's.  First, the Clinton administration kept pushing FNMA and Freddie Mac to increase the portion of their loan portfolio that consisted of what is now called "subprime" mortgages.

There are four facets of globalization that need to be analyzed in order to understand the magnitude of its impact on the economy of the United States:

1. The World GDP - how does the U.S. rank?
2. The financial markets, specifically the trends in the cost of money;
3. Infrastructure - the quality and availability of infrastructure determines our productivity as a country, impacts our cost of production, and therefore our competitiveness globally;
4. Labor cost - how does our cost of labor compare to the world?

Recently, we reviewed the demographics of the United States of America from 1900 to 2000 based upon the United States Census.  That analysis showed several fascinating facts: