Posted June 29, 2009 by Martin Perelmuter
Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller
Last week, we hosted a book launch for Jeff Rubin‘s new book, Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller. With over 200 clients attending the event, we could have easily renamed the event “Why Your Office Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller”, as we had quite a turnout. In just a few weeks, since its release, the book has become the #1 bestseller in Canada, and is climbing the charts in the U.S. and U.K every day. Why so much buzz? I believe that it’s partly due to the message, and partly due to the messenger.
Jeff recently stepped down as Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets (a position he has held since 1992), and is now devoting his full time to explaining how skyrocketing oil prices (not subprime lending) caused the recession, and why the rising cost of oil will reverse globalization. Interest rates, carbon trading, inflation, farmer’s markets, and the wave of trade protectionism washing up all over the world in the wake of various economic stimulus and bailout packages – it all hinges on the new reality of a world where demand for oil eventually outstrips supply. Whether we like it or not, our world is about to get a whole lot smaller.
Jeff spoke in his patented “tell-it-like-he-sees-it” style (Click here for an excerpt of his presentation), and then answered an array of questions. His message impacts all aspects of business and society, and affects everything from the types of cars we may be driving in the future, to where we go on our vacations, to what we eat for dinner.
Of course, as with any prognostication, there are critics who will question everything from the impact of Rubin’s thesis to the very premise upon which it is based. In a recent interview on CBC’s The Hour, George Strombolopolous, using a sports metaphor, pointed out that in baseball, you can get out 7 out of 10 times, and still make it to the Hall of Fame. He asked Jeff how often an economist needs to be right, to which Jeff responded that there’s a difference between hitting for average and hitting for power, and he’s not a bunt-single type of guy.
To build upon this metaphor, I’d say that with this book, Jeff has stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning, in Game 7 of the World Series. And from my vantage point, he’s just taken a swing and hit a ball that Joe Carter would be envious of.





