Energy Musings contains articles and analyses dealing with important issues and developments within the energy industry, including historical perspective, with potentially significant implications for executives planning their companies’ future.
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July 5, 2023
China Demographic Data Will Impact Our Future World
The latest Chinese population data shows that the aging exhibited in its old data has gotten worse. Moreover, the Shanghai Academy of Sciences says the country overcounted the 45 and younger population by 100 million making the aging worse and contributing to a rapidly shrinking labor force. As a result, China’s labor costs are rising rapidly erasing its global competitive advantage that forces us to reassess our outlook for the country. READ MORE
Energy Stocks Struggle: Will The Struggle Continue?
June marked the best month for Energy stocks this year. Still, Energy was the second worst-performing sector for the second quarter and the first half of 2023. Many investment strategists believe Energy will continue to underperform. But there are possible green shoots in the stock market. Additionally, crude oil price action suggests we could easily experience a sharp move upward. READ MORE
China Demographic Data Will Impact Our Future World
The latest demographic data from China suggests we need to revise our thinking about the world’s trajectory. That means thinking differently about China’s role in the geopolitical sphere, which may explain why it has become more aggressive in courting some and threatening other countries. The population data has implications for future world inflation rates, as well as energy demand and carbon emissions predictions. It does not mean all future global scenarios are wrong. More likely, we need to consider others – ones not now considered mainstream.
Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist, and author of The End of The World Is Just The Beginning, obtained the population data China recently sent to the United Nations Population Division. In a recent presentation, he showed the following three charts. The first was China’s old population pyramid data that displays the number of people in 5-year increments reflecting the youngest birth year. The pyramid showed how China’s population age groupings peaked in 1990 and have consistently been smaller with each five-year increment. The 2025 data shows the smallest