This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Why Are Americans Driving Straight Into The Non-Recovery (And 800 On The S&P)?
One look at Americans' driving habits represented by total vehicle miles travelled through the start of the Second Great Depression shows a simple chart: an uninterrupted diagonal line from the lower left to the upper right, which makes sense - a growing economy means more commuting, means more commerce, means more demand to get from point A to point B, means more miles driven, and so on.
Then something happened.
As the chart below shows, starting in December of 2007, the date which according to the NBER is the beginning of the most recent recession (which also according to the NBER ended in June 2009) the number of miles driven flatlined and has been virtually unchanged around 3 trillion miles every year for the past five!
This, despite the US economy (GDP) supposedly rebounding in 2009 and once again at new all time highs. Maybe someone besides us has a slight problem with the chart below showing the complete break between GDP and driving habits starting in 2003, or around the time the Federal Reserve went all in to mask the collapse of the dot com bubble, by first reflating the housing bubble, and then after 2008, the central bank bubble where every single central bank has literally gone all-in on to reflate the Mother Of All Bubbles (MOAB).
Why the record disconnect?
And why instead of growing alongside the economy, as it did in the past as this year-over-year chart of miles driven shows, at least until the end of 2007, which until that point never had a year over year decline, have the driving habits of the American people - always so eager to
drive the 2 minute trip to their neighborhood retail outlet - suddenly
collapsed.
The chart below zooms into the recent history and shows that for the past year the 6 month moving trendline has been a disturbing one showing a consistent decline in the miles driven even as the economy, courtesy of the Fed's ongoing market manipulation, is said to be "recovering."
* * *
But we have saved the best for last: the chart below shows the correlation between miles driven and the S&P. Is it just us, or did something very odd happen in the late 1990s? And if the latter, is it safe to say that Bernanke has been responsible for about 50% of the upside in the Stanligrad & Poorski 500?
Source: Moving 12-Month Total Vehicle Miles Traveled (M12MTVUSM227NFWA)
»
- 36336 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
There's some mileage left in the S&P...
....were did all the rubber go that wore off all those tires for all those miles?
Corzined
(MOAB)? She will have to think about that. But don't call me, i'll call you.
The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives
Sunday 9 June 2013 3.18 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistlebl...
He seems like a nice ETHICAL kid and I truly hope he stays safe. Oh yeah, and the nsa can fuck off. What a waste of precious resources.
Teleconferencing.
I got your name from a friend of a friend
who said he used to work with you
Remember the all night creature from stereo ninety two
Yeah I said could you relate to our quarter track tape
You know the band performs in the nude
He said uh huh don't call us child we'll call you
The only purpose for the S&P anymore is to give idiots a false indication that the economy hasn't collapsed [which it HAS]...
~~~
The only issue anymore has to do with "bagholders"... Up until 2008, 'retail' could always be counted on to be bagholders'... But since then [especially since August 2010], an uncomfortable number of 1%'ers are set up to be bagholders [because it's all printed money that was given to them for free]...
So were in the 'Mexican Standoff' part of Reservoir Dogs... [& now it's cheesepope vs. cheesepope]... Have fun lads...
All this goes to prove that it faster, cheaper, and much more economical to sit at a desk at the Fed and print money than to drive all over doing things.
By golly, you're right! And the corollary is, think how high the S&P would go, and how (paper) rich we'd all be if the Fed would just grant EVERYONE the right to counterfeit Ben Franklins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2AvU2cfXRk
THE GREAT DIVERGENCE: Ever since QE3, the FED and member banks have propped up the EQUITIES, TREASURY MARKET and REAL ESTATE, while at the same time destroying the price of gold and silver... thus killing investment demand.
However, the FED'S BUBBLE will pop and their will be a stampede into hard assets at some point in time. I wrote about this in the link below:
Silver Investment Demand: The Ticking Time Bombhttp://srsroccoreport.com/silver-investment-demand-ticking-time-bomb/sil...
" will be a stampede into hard assets at some point in time."
Hmmm, I suppose at some point that may or may not be true. I've been getting my ass kicked in this stuff for so long now I'm not so sure. The stampede would imply free and fair markets and also physical demand dictating price. The fucks in Comex will never, I repeat, NEVER, let that happen as long as they are setting prices.
another great indicator for growth is diesel consumption.
isn't it obvious, Americans are either flying (rich) or riding the bus (poor)....pretty simple.
Bus rides cost $2 one way man. Monthly passes are $70. Driving to work costs me $30/week - biking is free of charge so that's what I do. A 24oz Bud/Coors/etc also costs $2. If you only have $2 for the day, you got a choice to make. Not that I have the misfortune of making that choice at the moment, but I've had to in the past and probably will in the future.
looking for correlation to economic details w/ the S&P (or bonds or or or) is a fools game. The Fed broke these and now owns these "propaganda tools". Do not look for "market" based pricing to return.
Sorry to say but from 2009 til now...the winners are the CB'ers and their believers. PM's...not good. Those looking for a collapse...not good. Not happy or comfortable with this but from '09 til now...there is no argument against who the winners have been. Doesn't mean they have won the war...but certainly many CB haven't lost a battles from '09 to '13.
Gald to see it written as it should be... the Second Great Depression, or arguably the Greater Depression
That spy chart shows that ben has stabilized the market...not. ben and greenspan ...useless except to panic out the sheep and line banker profits
Why has driving flatlined?
Cheap Peak Oil now ruled the market. When prices rise to a certain level, driving drops off as people get priced out of discretionary trips.
Throw in the non-inflation that filters thru everything touched by oil and the avge US family is getting hosed.
If avge prices rise more expect demand to fall off more until incomes adjust accordingly. Or prices drop again.
Thank you Bennie and the Boys for screwing over the nation in favor of your banksters buddies.
I used to drive a lot but haven't so much since I took up jogging about 3 years ago. Maybe that's it.
Gave up my car in favour of a very nice mountain bike 3 years ago.
I'm now fit as the proverbial butcher's dog and have spent gas money on metal.
So far, so good.
Feel better both physically and mentally.
At 58 I can keep up with my 18 year old son over a couple of hours hard trail riding.
Hardly any downside at all, except for taking empties back to the beer store!
I'm now fit as the proverbial butcher's dog and have spent gas money on metal.
So far, so good.
Feel better both physically and mentally.
That's what jogging and biking will do for you. Funny, a zillion diet programs out there that don't work when the answer is pretty simple..
Also, whenever I see these stats related to driving being on the downturn the only thing I can think is GREAT.
right, apparently you gave up thinking when you gave up driving. so you jog to the grocery store and jog home with 6 bags of groceries. So you jog to the hardware store and jog home with 6 sheets of plywood and 4 bags of cement?
I smell bullshit....
You're just looking for a fight where one doesn't exist. It's obvious that it was discretionary driving that was being discussed. Be reasonable.
For this same reason, I bought a scooter for short trips, including the grocery store where a LOT of stuff will fit in the trunk case I installed on it.
Now... for your Fight Club ass-whoopin'. Step forward.
I don't think he means "literally". Biking is perfect unless you live outside the city, don't have perfect weather, never buy grocies or garden supplies, have kids or go out at night. Besides that, it's fine. I tried biking to work when I was a consultant but the extra time required (trip, parking, shower, etc) wasn't worth the few dollars I saved. I go to Costco, Lowe's, financial meetins, famers co-op and out to eat. The difference is that increasingly I am doing all these in one trip.
Interesting.
I wonder if the EMPLOYMENT bubble bursting might be a contributing factor?
When tens of millions of people lose their jobs, it sure as hell will have a difference in the aggregate number of miles driven.
Half the population is paid to stay home and drink beer.
The Budweisers don't drive themselves to the liquor store though
Budweiser is like that piss contraption that Kevin Costner had in the movie 'Waterworld'... In goes PISS... Out comes...........................Budweiser [which ~ can be recycled into more piss ~ sans the accompanying 'flag waving' bullshit]...
Budweiser - Coors Light et al.....
Like making love in a canoe....
fucking close to water!
Loved your post!! Milestones
I once sent some Budweiser to a medical lab for testing, the results came back that my horse had diabetes.
It was the sugar content of the beer. I wouldn't use that lab again, there are markers they can use to detect whether the liquid they are working with is urine, and apparently they didn't bother to check.
sounds like a great lab to send a piss test for drugs to, just send them distilled water and you'll get an all clean....
Down for being too dumb to see Agent was telling a joke.
The best mileage gained is when going down.
ZH, you don't have to endlessly show us why the S&P is "overvalued". Of course it is - ACCORDING TO OLD THINKING.
Why DO stock indices have to conform to the real economy anymore? NO RELATIONSHIP!
The stock "market" prices have NOTHING to do with underlying company performance.
Say it again: stock "market" prices have NOTHING to do with underlying company performance.
For the leveraged big players this is a DESPERATE search for any yield at all, heedless of old-time definitions of risk. Yield-seeking has now reduced players to gamblers and the markets to casinos. These stocks do not stand for "companies": they are just counters to be placed on any momentum-providing number.
This will go on precisely until there comes a better yield-providing alternative asset class...never mind risk - or fundamentals - or technicals - or "Hindenburgs" - or whatever...
The Elites have walked out on us. The marriage is over. America is cuckolded. They have run off with their SECretary
Banker to Croupier at Roulette table: "Red 3 at 35:1 odds please."
Banker soft whisper into lapel microphone: "Ben? Magnet on Red 3. What? Yes, I know pensioners, savers, and retirees have all their chips on Black/Even. Right, thanks, we'll have your money at the Cabana."
Your position is clear - "This will go on precisely until"
But of course, this time, it really is different... Because you're so much smarter (or some other daft bullshit)...
There is a vast chasm between "stock market prices have NOTHING to do with underlying company performance" and whether or not S&P is "overvalued" or more accurately at risk of a price correction.
I didn't say I was in this market! I'm out, except for precious metals miners...
But trying to pretend that this market will crash BECAUSE it is out of line with company fundamentals is deluding yourself. It WILL crash, but ONLY when there is some other game available with better yield prospects...it's all about DIVIDENDS and MOMENTUM. There are no "value investors" left.
1) I never said you were in the market
2) I'm not pretending that the market will crash of because is it out of line with company fundamentals
More substinatively- your notion of better interest rate alternatives is inconsisent (and I'm being polite) with equity market history- beit the ancient history Pre-WW2 or modern history such as the 08-09 selloff or the flash crash. If you think otherwise- point out the money flowing out of equities and into higher yielding debt products or derivatives during 08-09 or on May 6, 2010.
Or to quote myself from a mere 12 hrs ago-
It's always "junk" bonds that cause the shit to hit the fan.
In an economy where money is a product of credit creation, and rational price discovery of credit is suppressed - the inevitable outcome is irrational exuberance and then correction (credit collapse).
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-06-08/day-big-fat-junk-bond-bu...
"...into higher yielding debt products or derivatives..."
There AREN'T any right now, at least in the eyes of the momentum-chasing hot-money monkeys and Titanic-speed moving slow money dividend-seeking investment fundees who comprise the "market".
Any trip to 800 on the S&P that doesn't involve a slow grind over several years would take the form of a CRASH and it would NOT be caused by the sudden appearance of such a buying "opportunity" in higher yielding instruments.
You don't happen to live in the vicinity of Fukushima do you? I could understand experience with the Nikkei (or radiation sickness) leading to such thinking, but otherwise I'm at a loss here, as I was asking for recent historical justification of or evidence to support your investment thesis.
So you don't believe the "imminent crash" thesis?
all investment is based on faith. The faith the central bank will continue to subsidize and inflate the markets with liquidity (captial) is the current element of faith that secures participation.
formerly it was the faith of investing in companies that were growing (markets) or growing (profits) - ie intel j&J etc.
the faith of fundamentals was distributed over more companies and more investors and was more stable but it still collapsed every now and again - 1929, 1987, etc
With the new collosus having been built on a single pillar of sand and a constant hurricane dancing about, it is only a matter of time until their paths meet.
The shame is so many are back door invested, there jobs depend on a functioning economy, when the stock market goes next time, it will drag down even more of the real economy.
Poverty increasing is the only real trend you can count on. Foodstamps, children in poverty, wages, disposable income all the harbingers point to an existing economy far different than that painted by the gov and the msm (the other arm of the gov)
the reality is the stock market is a fantasy waiting for the dreamers to awaken.
Gasoline is too expensive relative to wages ergo driving is reduced, how it is reduced is merely symptomatic, not causative. People don't ride bikes causing reduced gas consumption because of no reason at all, people don't work from home for no reason at all, and one very big reason is the price of gasoline.
When something cannot continue, it will not continue, including gasoline use and the rise of the stock markets.
There is a vast chasm between "stock market prices have NOTHING to do with underlying company performance" and whether or not S&P is "overvalued" or more accurately at risk of a price correction.
Are you suggesting that stock prices reflect company performance?
Q. What's the difference between Western Capital Markets and a ponzi scheme?
A. There isn't any.
Hell NO, I'm simply pointing point the naivety of suggesting the status quo can be maintained indefinitely (infinitely).
Even Chair Satan the elder admitted Irrational Exuberance (and hence a disconnect from underlying fundamentals) in 1996 when the NASDAQ still had 300% upside to go. Market reflection of underlying corporate equity fundamentals has been dead a long time.
BTW - in case it wasn't obvious- CRTL-C/CTRL-P dictated the word choice of that sentence.
There is a vast chasm between "stock market prices have NOTHING to do with underlying company performance" and whether or not S&P is "overvalued" or more accurately at risk of a price correction.
I misunderstood what you wrote here, pretty common to hear people say this as meaning that equity markets are a bit overbought and maybe in for a minor correction but generally reflect fundamentals.
Absurd, but I read it ALL the time. Not to mention TV, I just had CNN money on (seeing if CNN would be covering the NSA leaker Snowden as breaking news) and they were discussing gold in a bubble, equity markets looking good etc.
Well put, James...anyone who even for a minute seriously believes or states that these markets represent " company fundamentals" is hopelessly naive, corrupt, on government money or selling something...
I hope the impending 90% crash finds you flat-footed.
May the flatulence of a 1,000 Bernankes overtake you on that fateful morning.
Kreditanstalt
In the short run CB's can print and inflate paper. In the long run, income from private sector employment and private businesses, support everything- dividends, coupons, and taxes.
All so-called "service" activities, government and private, depend on value-added in goods or private labor.
But I grant you that CB's can keep the illusion of wealth going for a hell of a long time. Look at the previous article on Junk bond yields. What is your yield when you lose your capital ? Bernanke is book-learned and his toes don't touch the ground.
I don't disagree! Everyone knows it's held up by Fed money. But somehow if you believe that this market is sustained by anything other than company fundamentals, and that this can go on for a long, long time irrespective of the weakness of those fundmentals, people see you as an apologist for the markets. NOT!
ehm...
well said
...because 2001 and 2007 were soooooo enjoyable.
Hint: At least look at the chart in the post you're commenting on.....
Wheels fell off
Telecommuting is also a factor. I have been working from my home for over 20 years and know more and more doing the same in differenct vocations. I am a software designer/programmer, but customer service, sales, bill collectors and others are working from home. That has to take a bite out of commuting downtown.
Yes, for the last decade I do more from my home via the internet. The days I do commute in SV the traffic is right back to the boom times....it sucks, in other words. Lots of hybrids and other high mpg cars out there, too, plus the ride sharing lanes are heavily used.
All in all, gasoline consumption is not a good indicator. The Ceridian Index (diesel truck fuel consumed) is far better for taking the economy's temperature.
No one drives to the Potemkin Economy to buy stuff.
Nor does Comex have any basis in reality .... Silver nears $zerodollars .... Harvest Organ should be an interesting read today .... and I'm the new fusion comic on the street .... a cross between Gary Larson for humans and Richard Pryor for animals ? LOL Humour is built into life .... you don't have to make it up !
Monedas, gotta tell ya I love pretty much all your posts. You sound like a man pushed to the edge - just like me. Now, if we could just find a way to garner this negative energy and make those that need to pay, pay with their lives. There are so many.
1995 to Present = Progressively increasing computerized trading and FED liquidity.
Digitally enhanced chart porn......no accounting ........for good accounting.
Bullish
so what's the chart on air quality look like? should show corresponding improvement. additionally how about air miles travelled? they should be down, and down even more, as people are put off by TSA and the poor service airlines provide, they sometimes take to the highway. i know the tourism business is down, in SD, the mayor is holding back a very large grant to the tourism board. and they had three cruise liners in port at one time a few weeks ago. there's a trip you couldn't pay me to make. raw sewage backed up, food poisoning, and then the ship sinks. GILLIGAN!
Where I used to drive to the store 2-3 times a week, I now order as much as possible off Amazon and do less "driving for shopping". The changing nature of our transactions is at least marginally disconnecting GDP from miles driven.
Takes millions of vehicles to move the chart in any direction. Not just a few buyers from Amazon, EBay or all sellers shipping by mail. And don't forget the trucks that deliver uses a lot more fuel than a car does.
A number of people can no longer afford the expense of owning an automobile. It is not just the cost of gas but also the parasite costs, insurance, mandated addons to the vehicle by the EPA and DOT, and yada, yada. People are going for bicycles, motor scooters, motorcycles, and "public" transportation. I had a relative say, Aren't two wheelers dangerous?" my reply was "Have you been on the bus sytem around here lately?" That and having to make two transfers to trave 5 miles.
I routinely wash my engine air filter and cabin air filter in warm soapy water .... rinse .... then 30 seconds on the spin cycle in the washing machine .... pop 'em right back in ! They are designed to resist humidity, mold and intestinal gases ! I bicycle 4 blocks to the tortilleria for a kilo of day old tortillas .... $6 pesos ($ .50 USD) .... it takes me a week to eat 'em ? Monedas 1929 Comedy Jihad Post Racial World Tour
WH: We don’t want to hear a peep about your thoughts or logic. Just keep eating your peas and shut the fuck up!
http://www.generationaldynamics.com/ww2010.htm
If any of you motherfuckers over at ZH mention a word about ‘economic contraction’. I’ll have your sorry ass wiretapped NSA style, along with a painful IRS audit. Do I make myself clear?
/sarc
With my economics .... I can't get much traction with the conts ! /grief
What happened? The internet.
We don't need no stinkin cars! We got bikes...
you know, savin the environment
I agree there are lots of factors, unemployment and shrinking incomes being prominent, but there is an ancillary factor associated with economic distress that really affects driving. Loss of Drivers License. As state and local governments squeeze their populations for more revenue via aggressive traffic and parking enforcement, stoplight cameras etc with increased fines a strange thing happens. People cannot pay those tickets and fines in a timely fashion and their drivers license is REVOKED. Of course they continue to drive as they really have no choice but then they are arrested for DWLS ( driving with license suspended) and now they are on the criminal justice system treadmill. Cops with license plate scanners easily detect the DWLS motorist and rearrest them. They become 'habitual' criminals and can even be sent to state prison for the predicate crime of being unable to pay some parking tickets or failing to come to a complete stop before making a right hand turn ( when the camera took the picture) at an redlight camera equipped intersection!
The tobacco industry has a similar business model
I dont think we are using real GDP here. The miles driven are real, the GDP should be also. And let's discount it on REAL inflation, not that bullshit published by the govt. Do that and I bet the charts will line up very well given the real economic stagnation that we all know is everywhere.
Somewhere, someone is intercepting these numbers and changing them to make the administration look bad. /s
Those really were some great years under Bush.....lower gas prices, lower budget deficits, lower unemployment, higher GDP etc etc etc......
Remember how the media USED to blame everything bad on President Bush?
What have they blamed on the Obowel Movement?
ultimate tripple top :>
I read the 6th chart as saying "S&P" 750....coming soon
QE<5? 6? 7?>: All of GM's channel stuffed cars will be put on treadmills to stimulate the economy by increasing miles driven
What happened? We created a "recovery" by juicing up the stock market with free money and rebalancing the CPI to conceal the resulting inflation. "Real GDP" is nominal GDP divided by CPI, so keeping the CPI low overstates "real growth". In fact, Americans are spending more money to buy less food, less fuel, and less of everything else.
Food is just about free, unless you live in da city.......
I just had a 2" dry aged delmonico, grass fed angus, half a dozen roasted new Yukon Gold potatoes, and a handful of asparagus that cost me little more than my sweat.
So the last chart shows clearly that the S&P is 100% overbought (overpriced).
Looks like the 666 of March 2009 was real valuation.
Correct.
S&P at 1000 is the top supply\demand number
Above 1000 the government started to buy S&P, At 1500, Gov + Fed + primary dealers literally own the whole S&P
Everybody needs to have a garage sale and sell all that crap they have and don't need.
Take the proceeds, fill up the car and go shopping for new crap you don't need.
REMEMBER, If you still have money, you are not doing your part.
America, land of the shopper, home of the indebted
Where do you shop that people use cash?
There maybe an element of cultural and generational change taking place too. This occured to me as I kept reading about the latest mentally disturbed young male going on a shooting rampage. Take that 23 year old gunman in Santa Monica the other day. They say he had some AR-15 type rifle ( $1000 plus) a large handgun ( $500 to $1000) extra magazines @$15 or so each and 1300 rounds of ammunition so another $500-$1000. All together over $3000 in firepower but no automobile. Now when I was 23 and living in California having a car was rather more important to me than having lots of firepower. Guess times have changed though.
The oil missing there is being simply...........financialized.
That's why QE was dead in January 2013, due to ongoing FINANCIALIZATION OF COMMODITIES.
Gas prices increased / we adjusted our habits. IOW, miles driven is also a function of rational behavior responding to rising transportation costs.
Set all the scandal aside and there is plenty. How can you judge Obama's economic policy as anything but a total failure for the average American?
Not true, as the new "average American" is getting a BIG handout and is doing just fine!
How can you judge ANYTHING when EVERYTHING is rigged????
Mileage also went offshore...
blackswan - never thought of it, but of course. even with the unemployed driving to walmart - (which gets closer and closer) - sure. jobs left.
Last chart is the best...
That last chart reeks of(truth) central bank intervention. Put that in your 'pressure cooker', shills over at CNBS.
The Ceridian Index is more useful than gasoline data...
WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE PER GALLON? The oil companies are fine with all this because you're too stupid stop the PRICE FIXING. Governments don't care because they're on the payroll with increased taxes... it's a percentages thing.
Search Results: equities | click sort by date
S&P Commodity Trends Indicator (CTI) – Old 2012 info, just follow the trends
Mother Of All Bubbles...MOAB? Sounds Biblical!
Peak distance from the burbs to the city finally reached.
That last chart reflects where reality split. 1995
1995...when Rubin and the Pinstripe Democrats joined Baker and the Wall Street Republicans to finally say....'we are all insane and no rules will ever apply to us ever again, pinky swear yay us!!!'
1995? Do you mean the Federal Reserve charts that broke down the money laundering movements? NSA won’t like your opposition in exposing truth.
/LOL
This is financial engineering. Prosperity for everyone. Regarding the indices there seems to be slight instability but this will be addressed in next releases.
The stock market doesn't need an economy anymore. Duh.
EDIT: And there's no such thing as peak stupid.
As mentioned in another comment: the internet happened, which means less commuting, more teleconferences. Also, cheap airlines and high oil prices happened, making driving comparatively less attractive.
Damn, that Miles Driven vs. SP chart clearly shows the market distortions started in 1995, just about the time that 401(k)s became the norm.
Less mileage driven? Three words - cost of gasoline. It's finally gotten to the point where people are paying more attention to it and taking more efficient trip routes becasue of it or just not driving as much.
oh come on, reasons for this
1. distributed workplaces/ working from home/internet (especially from 2003)
2. freight/rail/shipping/couriering/bulk supply via pipeline networks
3. lower participation rates
4. higher average oil prices
5. healthier life styles/more running/cycling (maybe not that one...)
soon banker and government worker only highways....just the way they wanted!
How on earth can you estimate this? Even mentioning this metric is obscene.
Gneiss Gnigger .... Vienna's first mulatto automotive engineer ! Monedas 1929 Comedy Jihad Post Racial Parle Vous World Tours
Its not that surprising to me. The 2008 crisis was pretty traumatic and caused some immediate behavioural changes. Whether its becuase we didnt deal with the issues that caused the crisis, and so many of us feel the problems still remain......but whatever, those behavioural changes havent reversed. Gas went up in real terms, unemployment soared, cars became more efficient.......electronic gadgets and the internet became both much better and more pervasive. I discovered i didnt need to drive to all those places. Email, texting, calling, all worked just as well. The people i dealt with got used to it as well, so we never resumed the face to face meetings. Now video conferencing is second nature. Two year old vehiicle, 33k kms.....i was doing 50k PER YEAR before i restructured. NO, mileage is not coming back !
Let Asia have the oil.
They figured out a way to grow the economy without driving. No wait it's Obama's railification
"miles driven" looks like a corrupted statistic not worthy of a decade+ artistic trendline. There's ethanol, internet purchases, telecommuting, Chinese imports and now alternative energy cars (just beginning). Who knows, maybe defense dept. war "miles" were also included.
In a word, off-shoring.