>The increase in the cost of oil _is_ a transfer from Chinese industry and
>government to oil companies, automatically, even if the Chinese are,
>as you say,
>big on conservation.
But it's also a transfer from non-oil US entities to the oil industry, and since the US is less energy efficient than just about everyone else, hits us pretty hard. The only possible offset to this would be a great burst of dollar strength, but we've only had a modest rally in the dollar over the last several months.
Doug