Americans Just Don't Drive Like They Used To

During our massive monthly data review on commodities, inflation, trade and leading indicators, one of the consistently eye-opening data points, even though we have seen the chart many times, is the leveling off of aggregate amount of miles driven on all roads and streets (annualized) in the United States. The US is well below highs made in 2007 (latest data is only through March, unfortunately). If we deflate this series to account for population growth, the findings are even more eye-popping. Outside of one blip in February 2011, what you find is that the US hasn't had a positive year-over-year growth in miles driven adjusted for population growth since September 2005! To put that in context, the US spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s consistently growing on a year-over-year basis adjusted for population. If you are interested in learning more about this phenomenon going on we found this report interesting.