http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/INTERV ... GALBRAITH/
Galbraith also addresses other economic issues as a result of peak oil. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Texas.
Somebody's going to have to cut their consumption. It seems to me likely, that that somebody won't, in the present state of the World economy, be us. At least not to the most substantial extent.
That is to say, oil is priced in dollars. And it's very possible, that the price of oil in dollars can be held reasonably constant, meaning that the American consumer may not notice this situation or be impacted by it very substantially for quite some time to come.
How will the diminished quantity of oil then be rationed? By a fall in price of everybody else's currencies. By the currenices of many other countries, in particular developing countries, which will then find the dollar price of their oil, much higher. And will not be able to consume.
This is again a situation which you can see a constitency for in the United States but it's not a wise global public policy because it implies a major blockage to the process of economic development in this world. And it implies that a great part of the rest of the world will undergo hardships which will increase the separation between them and us, and therefore the potential for conflict.
So when peak occurs, the US consumer might not notice it - but look out for a devaluing of other world currencies against the dollar as a sign of decline in world oil supply. That should be the economic signifier.