With Greece on the verge of default, we’re about to learn how little has really changed since governments around the world wrote the last round of bail out checks to prop up failing financial institutions. Just as the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market rippled into nearly every corner of the global financial system, [...]
It was only two years ago that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia cautioned consumers that, without $75-per-barrel oil, there was no incentive for his kingdom to bring on new production. Today, apparently, even that price no longer works. Recently, the King announced that he has ordered a halt to all further underground oil exploration, arguing [...]
What does $80-per-barrel oil say to you? Three years ago, it would have told you that global oil markets were at record tightness. Back then, the US president was making a personal pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to vainly plead for more production. And economists were worrying about the implications for global economic growth. Today, it [...]
This is what you won’t be reading from the official press release following next week’s OPEC meeting in Angola. Member states are guzzling tons of their own oil and have less and less stuff to export to you. Fortunately, since oil prices are almost four times higher than they were a decade ago, those states [...]