I think what Migeru said about relative and absolute advantage and the free movement of capital is just great. When we discussed that in a thread months and months ago I got one of those apple-in-the-head moments. A real eye-opener. (Like the time I lay upside down on the kitchen counter (for some reason or other), looking at the water flowing "upwards" into the sink and suddenly understood what gravity is all about).

Irritatingly, no other student of economics I have spoken to seem to understand this.

(Not talking about gravity.)

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.