Last Wednesday I detailed the US’s massive exporting of wealth via gas guzzling in an essay titled The #1 US Export…Wealth. My main point was that our taste for large cars—pickups, SUVs, and minivans, comprised more than 50% of new car sales from 2001-2007—combined with a weak dollar, made for a massive shift in global wealth from the US to the Middle East.

Yet, as cynical as I am, nothing prepared me for the following news items.

Firstly, in June, US consumers spent more of their incomes on gas than they did on automobiles and auto parts. Altogether, spending on gas accounted for 4.4% of personal consumption in June, while autos and parts only comprises 3.9%. This doesn’t seem terribly significant until you realize that the last time this happened was January 1982.

The important item to note is that gas sales predominantly flow overseas—nearly 60% of US petroleum is imported—while auto sales and auto parts sales predominantly flow back into the US economy—more than 50% of auto sales are to domestic brands. Thus, by spending more on gas than autos/parts, we’re shifting our spending patterns to funnel more money overseas

The second item to note is best summarized by the below chart (courtesy of Jake at Econompic Data):

OPEC Revenue vs. U.S. Individual Income Taxes

As you can see, OPEC’s 2008 revenue is expected to top total US individual income taxes. Put another way, OPEC’s sales from oil this year will exceed ALL the taxes paid by US citizens. Altogether, the consortium is expected to pull in $1.17 trillion dollars—with a “t”. As if that isn’t mind boggling enough, chew on this: over three years, OPEC might bring in $3.5 trillion… an amount almost equal to the entire market capitalization of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

As I mentioned last Wednesday, high oil prices have exported a truly staggering amount of wealth outside of the US. The irony is that the Middle East, particularly its massive Sovereign Wealth Funds, have then used this same capital to buy up stakes in our banks, financial infrastructure, and real estate markets. Thus our wealth—both monetarily and in terms of assets—is now being sent abroad.