8 ms·

> "The US doesn't actually do anything with natural resources anymore" ... "we don't "add value" to natural resources" Not sure that's accurate. The US refines

> "The US doesn't actually do anything with natural resources anymore" ... "we don't "add value" to natural resources" Not sure that's accurate. The US refines more oil than any other nation. http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/features/featurethe-10-biggest-oil-refining-countries/ http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/features/featurethe-1... And is #4 in steel production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_steel_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_steel_pro...

intrasight 10y ago
But we don't buy those natural resources from other coutries
- strictnein 10y ago
  A lot of oil is imported for the refineries to process. https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/10/28/why-is-the-u-s-still-importing-so-much-oil/ https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/10/28/why-is-the-u-s-...
  - intrasight 10y ago
    I stand corrected
- PietdeVries 10y ago
  With the drop in oil prices from the past years, getting oil out of the ground in the US became too expensive. A lot of newly installed sites were closed because they could only operate efficiently with an oil price near $80 a barrel. I am quite sure the US imports a lot of oil... Edit: quick results from 2015: 25% is imported. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6
  - tracker1 10y ago
    And when resources start running out elsewhere, it will eventually shift back, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
  - knz 10y ago
    Isn't that part of why Republicans are pushing for increased exploration/extraction in many of the public lands found in the west/Alaska?
PietdeVries 10y ago
This seems true for most modern, western economies: they are migrating from a producing economy to a service & knowledge economy. Logistics is big (moving stuff) and services are big (consultancy, lawfirms, etc), but the actual factories are gone. And that makes sense: with higher education levels you can make more complex things than the "regular" factories do. Stuff that requires trained staff - brains. Oh - and btw: the US likely not only refines most oil, it also consumes it: the US have grown to a country based on consumption, spending and borrowing, but not on producing anything. So if goods only come in and money only goes out, there comes a time where the money is gone. And that is when the trouble starts...
- strictnein 10y ago
  > "but not on producing anything" That's just not accurate. The US produces and exports a wide variety of petroleum based products and lots of oil as well. We import a lot of heavier oil, because we have the capacity to refine it (unlike most nations) and export a lot of the easier to refine stuff. http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-increase/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-inc... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 And, the US industrial output is at its highest point ever. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO
  - frozenport 10y ago
    I think you need to normalize by population to get a sense for how much, we as a people, are producing. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production+index)%2F(us+population) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production... Here the story is that our product has peaked around 2000, and has been doing down ever since.
    - dsp1234 10y ago
      Except that story would not be true, as it clearly goes up, and has a higher peak after 2000.
dpark 10y ago
A very distant 4th, though. We consume far more steel than we produce.
baldfat 10y ago
> > "The US doesn't actually do anything with natural resources anymore" ... "we don't "add value" to natural resources" US #3 oil producer in the world close to Russia and Saudi Arabia

intrasight 10y ago

But we don't buy those natural resources from other coutries

strictnein 10y ago
A lot of oil is imported for the refineries to process. https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/10/28/why-is-the-u-s-still-importing-so-much-oil/ https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/10/28/why-is-the-u-s-...
- intrasight 10y ago
  I stand corrected
PietdeVries 10y ago
With the drop in oil prices from the past years, getting oil out of the ground in the US became too expensive. A lot of newly installed sites were closed because they could only operate efficiently with an oil price near $80 a barrel. I am quite sure the US imports a lot of oil... Edit: quick results from 2015: 25% is imported. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=32&t=6
- tracker1 10y ago
  And when resources start running out elsewhere, it will eventually shift back, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- knz 10y ago
  Isn't that part of why Republicans are pushing for increased exploration/extraction in many of the public lands found in the west/Alaska?

PietdeVries 10y ago

This seems true for most modern, western economies: they are migrating from a producing economy to a service & knowledge economy. Logistics is big (moving stuff) and services are big (consultancy, lawfirms, etc), but the actual factories are gone. And that makes sense: with higher education levels you can make more complex things than the "regular" factories do. Stuff that requires trained staff - brains. Oh - and btw: the US likely not only refines most oil, it also consumes it: the US have grown to a country based on consumption, spending and borrowing, but not on producing anything. So if goods only come in and money only goes out, there comes a time where the money is gone. And that is when the trouble starts...

strictnein 10y ago
> "but not on producing anything" That's just not accurate. The US produces and exports a wide variety of petroleum based products and lots of oil as well. We import a lot of heavier oil, because we have the capacity to refine it (unlike most nations) and export a lot of the easier to refine stuff. http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-increase/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-inc... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 And, the US industrial output is at its highest point ever. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO
- frozenport 10y ago
  I think you need to normalize by population to get a sense for how much, we as a people, are producing. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production+index)%2F(us+population) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production... Here the story is that our product has peaked around 2000, and has been doing down ever since.
  - dsp1234 10y ago
    Except that story would not be true, as it clearly goes up, and has a higher peak after 2000.

dpark 10y ago

A very distant 4th, though. We consume far more steel than we produce.

baldfat 10y ago

> > "The US doesn't actually do anything with natural resources anymore" ... "we don't "add value" to natural resources" US #3 oil producer in the world close to Russia and Saudi Arabia