Microtechnology - The Economy's Counterpunch

If oil is so expensive, why hasn’t the U.S. economy suffered like in the 1970s? Microtechnology.
“The answer is simple: The U.S. uses far less oil and gas today to produce a dollar of GDP. So even when the use of energy rises, and the price goes up, the overall impact on the economy is still less.”
Since 1973, the year of the first oil embargo by the OPEC countries, energy efficiency in the United States has increased by roughly 58 percent, after adjusting for inflation. The biggest reason U.S. society has become more energy efficient -- and will continue to do so into the future -- is the application of Microtechnology to everything that moves and works in the economy. The use of “smart” tools, systems, and processes everywhere is daily life today means that we get much greater productivity for every energy dollar we spend. How big is this productivity jump? Well, in just the last 12 months, the increase has been almost five percent over 2006. The U.S. is the only country in the world that is experiencing these kinds of gains in both productivity and energy efficiency. Since 2003, the price of crude oil has tripled, yet everything in the economy has gotten better -- including decreases in the national deficit and balance of trade. There’s a single factor, of course, that explains why the impact caused by increases in energy prices is always being softened. It’s called Moore’s Law. Gordon Moore, one of the founding owners of Intel, predicted in 1964 that the power and speed of microchips would double every 18 months, while the price remained constant or decreased. This prediction has been proven true continually for the past four decades. As the microchip is employed and implemented in more and more areas of the U.S. economy, it means that the productivity gains will always exceed any increases in energy costs. Microchip breakthroughs come from human ingenuity, which economist Julian Simon said is the greatest resource of all.