Jerry Fuhrman, who writes from rural southwest Virginia, has an interesting observation today that I think is applicable to many rural areas of the country.
He notes that one of Virginia's main exports is wood (mostly to China), and one of Virginia's main imports is furniture (mainly from China). Fuhrman's question is how will high energy prices affect the cost of goods, since it takes a lot of energy to haul wood to China, turn it into furniture, and then haul it back to the U.S?
Higher energy prices are going to change things in ways we are not thinking about right now. The current focus on automobile efficiency is, I think, extremely short-sighted. Fuhrman is more on track, looking at indirect effects and trying to ferret out business opportunities. There is a business boom at the end of every downturn. Thinking in a futures context means less handwringing about the present and more consideration of where things might end up.
Virginia used to be a furniture manufacturing powerhouse. And Fuhrman may be right that it could be again.