Americans drove 53.2 billion miles less since Nov 2007 due to gas prices, weak economy

Since Nov 2007, US motorists have driven 53.2 billion fewer miles than they did over the same period a year earlier, topping the 1970s drop of 49.3 billion miles caused by recessions and gasoline price increases. Americans drove 4.7% or 12.2 billion miles less in June 2008 than in June 2007. According to Energy Department data, total US petroleum demand shrank by an average 800,000 barrels a day during the first half of 2008, the biggest decline since 1982, because of soaring pump costs and a weak economy. Americans appear to have given up their long love affair with big, gas-guzzling vehicles. US car sales in July outpaced SUV's and light trucks, with cars accounting for 55% of all vehicles sold. Honda, the industry leader in fuel efficient cars, is expanding its fleet in 2009.

- All the signs are pointing toward a massive slowdown amidst demand destruction, with oil prices falling, stock markets tanking, weakening economies and now we have these reports of fewer miles travelled and reduced oil consumption. Is there any bright spot at all among all this? I can think of one or two. If you are a long-term investor *and* you have steady income, now is a great time to be accumulating cash, waiting it out, and looking for a chance to pounce on the coming bargains with traders and hedged funds, in their mad rush to de-leverage, doing the proverbial throw-the-baby-out- with-the-bathwater thing. It would be nice to steal a march on the SWF's (Sovereign Wealth Funds) and get a better deal than them when the dividend yields out there start to hit the 20% level.

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