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Oil Price Blowback: Is Putin Creating A New World Order?
Submitted by Mike Whitney via Emerging Equity blog,
“If undercharging for energy products occurs deliberately, it also effects those who introduce these limitations. Problems will arise and grow, worsening the situation not only for Russia but also for our partners.” – Russian President Vladimir Putin
It’s hard to know which country is going to suffer the most from falling oil prices. Up to now, of course, Russia, Iran and Venezuela have taken the biggest hit, but that will probably change as time goes on. What the Obama administration should be worried about is the second-order effects that will eventually show up in terms of higher unemployment, market volatility, and wobbly bank balance sheets. That’s where the real damage is going to crop up because that’s where red ink and bad loans can metastasize into a full-blown financial crisis. Check out this blurb from Nick Cunningham at Oilprice.com and you’ll see what I mean:
“According to an assessment from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, an estimated 250,000 jobs across eight U.S. states could be lost in 2015 if oil prices don’t rise. More than 50 percent of those job losses would occur in Texas, which leads the nation in oil production.
There are some early signs that a slowdown in drilling could spread to the manufacturing sector in Texas… One executive at a metal manufacturing company said in the survey, “the drop in crude oil prices is going to make things ugly… quickly.” Another company that manufactures machinery told the Dallas Fed, “Low oil prices will drive reductions in U.S. drilling rigs, which will in turn reduce the market for our products.”
The sentiment was similar for a chemical manufacturer, who said “lower oil prices will adversely impact margins. Energy volatility will cause our customers to keep inventories tight.”
States like Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have seen their economies boom over the last few years as oil production surged. But the sector is now deflating, leaving gashes in employment rolls and state budgets.” (Low Prices Lead To Layoffs In The Oil Patch, Nick Cunningham, Oilprice.com)
Of course industries lay-off workers all the time and it doesn’t always lead to a financial crisis. But unemployment is just one part of the picture, lower personal consumption is another. Take a look:
“Falling oil prices are a bigger drag on economic growth than the incremental “savings” received by the consumer…..Another way to show this graphically is to look at the annual changes in Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) in aggregate as compared to the subsection of PCE spent on energy and related products. This is shown in the chart below.
Lower Energy Prices To Lower PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures):
See? So despite what you might have read in the MSM, lower gas prices do not translate into greater personal consumption or more robust growth. Quiet the contrary, they tend to intensify deflationary pressures and reduce activity which is a damper on growth.
Then there’s the knock-on effects that crashing prices and layoffs have on other industries like mining, manufacturing and chemical production. Here’s more from Oil Price:
“Oil and gas production makeup a hefty chunk of the “mining and manufacturing” component of the employment rolls. Since 2000, when the oil price boom gained traction, Texas has comprised more than 40% of all jobs in the country according to first quarter data from the Dallas Federal Reserve…
The majority of the jobs “created” since the financial crisis have been lower wage paying jobs in retail, healthcare and other service sectors of the economy. Conversely, the jobs created within the energy space are some of the highest wage paying opportunities available in engineering, technology, accounting, legal, etc. In fact, each job created in energy related areas has had a “ripple effect” of creating 2.8 jobs elsewhere in the economy from piping to coatings, trucking and transportation, restaurants and retail….
The obvious ramification of the plunge in oil prices is that eventually the loss of revenue will lead to cuts in production, declines in capital expenditure plans (which comprise almost 1/4th of all capex expenditures in the S&P 500), freezes and/or reductions in employment, and declines in revenue and profitability…
Simply put, lower oil and gasoline prices may have a bigger detraction on the economy than the “savings” provided to consumers.” (The Gasoline Price Myth, Lance Roberts, oilprice.com)
None of this sounds very reassuring, does it? And yet, all we hear from the media is how the economy is going to reach “escape velocity” on the back of cheap oil. Nonsense. This is just more “green shoots” baloney wrapped in public relations hype. The fact is, the economy needs the good-paying jobs more than it needs low-priced energy. But now that prices are tumbling, those jobs are going to disappear which is going to be a drag on growth. Now check out these headlines I picked up on Google News that help to show what’s going on off the radar:
“Texas is in danger of a recession”, CNN Money.
“Texas Could Be Headed for an Oil-Fueled Recession, JP Morgan Economist Says”, Wall Street Journal “Good Times From Texas to North Dakota May Turn Bad on Oil-Price Drop”, Bloomberg
“Low Oil Prices in the New Year Are Screwing Petrostates”, Vice News
“Top US Oil States Are Taking A Hit From Plunging Crude Prices”, Business Insider
Get the picture? If oil prices continue to fall, unemployment is going to spike, activity is going to slow, and the economy is going tank. And the damage won’t be limited to the US either. Get a load of this from the UK Telegraph:
“A third of Britain’s listed oil and gas companies are in danger of running out of working capital and even going bankrupt amid a slump in the value of crude, according to new research.
Financial risk management group Company Watch believes that 70pc of the UK’s publicly listed oil exploration and production companies are now unprofitable, racking up significant losses in the region of £1.8bn.
Such is the extent of the financial pressure now bearing down on highly leveraged drillers in the UK that Company Watch estimates that a third of the 126 quoted oil and gas companies on AIM and the London Stock Exchange are generating no revenues.
The findings are the latest warning to hit the oil and gas industry since a slump in the price of crude accelerated in November when the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided to keep its output levels unchanged. The decision has caused carnage in oil markets with a barrel of Brent crude falling 45pc since June to around $60 per barrel.” (Third of listed UK oil and gas drillers face bankruptcy, Telegraph)
“Carnage in oil markets,” you say?
Indeed. Many of the oil-drilling newcomers set up shop to take advantage of the low rates and easy money available in the bond market. Now that prices have crashed, investors are avoiding energy-related junk bonds like the plague which is making it impossible for the smaller companies to roll over their debt or attract fresh capital. When these companies start to default en masse, as they certainly will if prices don’t rebound, the blowback will be felt on bank balance sheets across the country creating the possibility of another financial meltdown. (Now we ARE talking about a financial crisis.)
The basic problem is that the banks have bundled a lot of their dodgy debt into financially-engineered products like Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) that will inevitably fail when borrowers are no longer able to service the loans. The rot can be concealed for a while, but eventually, if prices don’t recover, a significant number of these companies are going to go under which will push the perennially-undercapitalized banking system to the brink once again. That’s why Washington’s plan to push down oil prices (to hurt the Russian economy) might have made sense on a short-term basis (to shock Putin into submission) but as a long-term strategy, it’s nuts. And what’s even crazier, is that Obama has decided to double-down on the same wacky plan even though Putin hasn’t given an inch. Check this out from Reuters on Monday:
“The Obama administration has opened a new front in the global battle for oil market share, effectively clearing the way for the shipment of as much as a million barrels per day of ultra-light U.S. crude to the rest of the world…
The Department of Commerce on Tuesday ended a year-long silence on a contentious, four-decade ban on oil exports, saying it had begun approving a backlog of requests to sell processed light oil abroad.
The action comes at a critical juncture for the global oil market. World prices have halved to less than $60 a barrel since the summer as top exporter Saudi Arabia, once a staunch defender of $100 oil, refused to cut production in the face of surging U.S. shale output and tempered global demand…
With global oil markets in flux, it is far from clear how much U.S. condensate will find a market overseas.”
(Analysis – U.S. opening of oil export tap widens battle for global market, Reuters)
Does that make sense to you, dear reader? Why would Obama suddenly opt to change the rules of the game when he knows it will increase supply and push prices down even further? Why would he do that? Certainly, he doesn’t want to inflict more pain on domestic producers, does he?
Let’s let Obama answer the question for himself. Here’s a clip from an NPR interview with the president just last week. About halfway through the interview, NPR’s Steve Inskeep asks Obama: “Are you just lucky that the price of oil went down and therefore their currency collapsed or …is it something that you did?
Barack Obama: If you’ll recall, their (Russia) economy was already contracting and capital was fleeing even before oil collapsed. And part of our rationale in this process was that the only thing keeping that economy afloat was the price of oil. And if, in fact, we were steady in applying sanction pressure, which we have been, that over time it would make the economy of Russia sufficiently vulnerable that if and when there were disruptions with respect to the price of oil — which, inevitably, there are going to be sometime, if not this year then next year or the year after — that they’d have enormous difficulty managing it.” (Transcript: President Obama’s Full NPR Interview)
Am I mistaken or did Obama just admit that he wanted “disruptions” in the “price of oil” because he figured Putin would have “enormous difficulty managing it”?
Isn’t that the same as saying that it was all part of Washington’s plan; that plunging prices were just the icing on the cake for their asymmetrical attack on the Russian economy? It sure sounds like it. And that would also explain why Obama decided to allow domestic producers to dump more oil on the market even though it’s going to send prices lower. Apparently, none of that matters as long as the policy hurts Russia.
So maybe the US-Saudi oil collusion theory isn’t so far fetched after all. Maybe Salon’s Patrick L. Smith was right when he said:
“Less than a week after the Minsk Protocol was signed, Kerry made a little-noted trip to Jeddah to see King Abdullah at his summer residence. When it was reported at all, this was put across as part of Kerry’s campaign to secure Arab support in the fight against the Islamic State.
Stop right there. That is not all there was to the visit, my trustworthy sources tell me. The other half of the visit had to do with Washington’s unabated desire to ruin the Russian economy. To do this, Kerry told the Saudis 1) to raise production and 2) to cut its crude price. Keep in mind these pertinent numbers: The Saudis produce a barrel of oil for less than $30 as break-even in the national budget; the Russians need $105.
Shortly after Kerry’s visit, the Saudis began increasing production, sure enough — by more than 100,000 barrels daily during the rest of September, more apparently to come…
Think about this. Winter is coming, there are serious production outages now in Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela and Libya, other OPEC members are screaming for relief, and the Saudis make back-to-back moves certain to push falling prices still lower? You do the math, with Kerry’s unreported itinerary in mind, and to help you along I offer this from an extremely well-positioned source in the commodities markets: “There are very big hands pushing oil into global supply now,” this source wrote in an e-mail note the other day.” (“What Really Happened in Beijing: Putin, Obama, Xi And The Back Story The Media Won’t Tell You”, Patrick L. Smith, Salon)
Vladimir Putin: Public Enemy Number 1
Let’s cut to the chase: All these oil shenanigans are really aimed at just one man: Vladimir Putin. There are a number of reasons why Washington wants to get rid of Putin, the first of which is that the Russian president has become an obstacle to US plans to pivot to Asia. That’s the main issue. As long as Putin is calling the shots, there’s going to be growing resistance to NATO’s push eastward and Washington’s military expansion across Central Asia which could undermine US plans to encircle China and remain the world’s only superpower. Here’s an excerpt from Zbigniew Brzezinski’s The Grand Chessboard which helps to explain the importance Eurasia is in terms of Washington’s global ambitions:
“..how America ‘manages’ Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa’s subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania (Australia) geopolitically peripheral to the world’s central continent. About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (p.31) (Zbigniew Brzezinski,The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And It’s Geostrategic Imperatives, Key Quotes From Zbigniew Brzezinksi’s Seminal Book)
Get it? Prevailing in Asia is the administration’s top priority, which is why the US is rapidly moving its military assets into place. Check this out from the World Socialist Web Site:
“Under Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” the Pacific Command will account for more than 60 percent of all US military forces, up from 50 percent under the Bush administration. This includes new US basing arrangements in the Philippines, Singapore and Australia, as well as renewed close military ties to New Zealand, and ongoing US military exercises in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan….(as well as) large troop deployments in Japan and South Korea, including nuclear-armed units.” (The global scale of US militarism, Patrick Martin, World Socialist Web Site)
The “Big Shift” is already underway, which is why obstacles have to be removed and Putin’s got to go.
Second, Putin has made himself a general nuisance vis a vis US strategic objectives in Syria, Iran and Ukraine. In Syria, Putin has thrown his support behind Assad who the US wants to topple in order to redraw the map of the Middle East and build gas pipelines from Qatar to Turkey to access the lucrative EU market.
Third, Putin has strengthened a number of coalitions and alliances –the BRICS bank, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization–all of which pose a challenge to US dominance in the region as well as a viable alternative to neoliberal financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Going back to Brzezinski’s “chessboard” once again, we see that the US should not feel threatened by any one nation, but should be constantly on-the-lookout for “regional coalitions” which could derail its plans to rule the world. Here’s Brzezinski again:
“…the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.” (p.40)
“Henceforth, the United States may have to determine how to cope with regional coalitions that seek to push America out of Eurasia, thereby threatening America’s status as a global power.” (p.55) (Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And It’s Geostrategic Imperatives, Key Quotes From Zbigniew Brzezinksi’s Seminal Book)
As a founding member and primary backer of these organizations, (and initiator of giant energy deals with China, India and Turkey) Putin has become Washington’s biggest headache and a logical target for regime change.
Finally, Putin is doing whatever he can to circumvent dollar-denominated business and financial transactions. The move away from the buck is a direct attack on the US’s greatest source of power, the ability to control the de facto international currency and to require that other nation’s stockpile dollars for their energy purchases which are then recycled into US financial assets, stocks bonds and US Treasuries. This petrodollar-recycling scam allows the US to run gigantic current account deficits without raising interest rates or reducing government spending. Putin’s anti-dollar policies could diminish the greenback’s role as reserve currency and put an end to a system that institutionalizes looting.
This is why Putin is Public Enemy Number 1. It’s because he’s blocking the US pivot to Asia, strengthening anti-Washington coalitions, sabotaging US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East, creating institutions that rival the IMF and World Bank, transacting massive energy deals with critical US allies, increasing membership in an integrated, single-market Eurasian Economic Union, and attacking the structural foundation upon which the entire US empire rests, the dollar.
Naturally, Washington’s powerbrokers are worried about these developments, just as they are worried about the new world order which is gradually taking shape under Putin’s guidance. But, so far, they haven’t been able to do anything about it. The administration’s regime change schemers and fantasists have shown time-and-again that they’re no match for Bad Vlad who has beaten them at every turn.
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Give the Putinlove a rest. Sheesh
What KIND of blowback is the only question, really.
Putin: “Negotiating with Obama is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board, and then struts around like it won the game.”
This time it's my call: Checkmate bro.
Putin is not the one trying to create the New World Order, last time I checked. He's one of many trying to not be Assimilated by the Borg.
That's really a well-put analogy.
he’s sabotaging US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East
Obongo doesn't need any help in that area, he fucks it up pretty good all by himself.
"Get the picture? If oil prices continue to fall, unemployment is going to spike, activity is going to slow, and the economy is going tank."
You oil guys really need to get over yourselves.
Just bend over.
That’s just part 1!
Part 2 is when supply is crushed and prices rise exponentially and crush the broke economy even more with 200 or 300 dollar oil destroying the industrie and cripply the citizens with 7 dollar a gallon oil and doubled foodprices!
Remember, it’s way easier to close a rig than to restart a oilfield. A horor of 2 to 3 years will follow. And if the saudi’s buy the broke fields and just decide to keep it all down, they’ll secure their income and it’s game over for America.
Dark clouds are comming for all of us
Houston-based Civeo Corp. (NYSE: CVEO), a lodging and workforce accommodations company for the oil and gas industry, has slashed jobs and cut costs amid the harsh industry climate and continued weakness in the Canadian and Australian dollars.
Civeo has cut 30 percent of its Canadian workforce and 45 percent of its U.S. workforce ....
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/12/houston-company-...
Forward ! If we cut moar merikan jobs and shut down moar rigs we'll have Putin on his knees !!
Perhaps Putin and Xi were aware of US-Saudi planning to drive down oil prices to cripple Russia's economy.
Perhaps they also realized that this would be an excuse to dump a shit-house load of US treasuries and really destabilize King Dollar and the US economy.
China has agreed to backstop Russia.
russia and china can sell treasury bonds but the fed can buy them with the dollars it "prints".
what the fed can't do, nor anyone, is create gold (or silver) without mining it. while the timing is uncertain, it is certain that one day someone, more likely than not someone allied with russia and china, will stand for delivery of that which cannot be delivered.
then the prices of the dollar and the treasury bond will feel some real pressure down.
Diminishing returns and whatnot.
Putin is assembling allies. The US forces its will on other nations. Who will win? Doesn't matter how big your military is when 80% of the worlds' population sees your policies as archaic and recognizes the bullying to try to maintain an outdated model.
I'm not on some Putin band wagon, cheering on another corrupt government. I'm simply for any kind of change that blows this way. Corrupt markets, bank bailouts, white-collar criminality, and pure FRAUD at the highest levels of .gov and finance are why I'll damn near accept any new approach. The FED needs to be destroyed, disbanded, and it's members thrown in jail. This is what needs to happen.
Obama admitting they manipulated oil as a means to kill Putin proves that markets are a weapon of war. F'n embarrassing, fighting like back room cubicle computer geeks at an HFT terminal instead of standing up and fighting for Freedom, Honor, and Respect.
Dot gov has morphed into a complete and utter joke. All hail USD reserve and its blanket of financial repression, because right now there is no other choice.
As long as the western banking cabal can create currency out of thin air, then dump it into the equities and futures markets, western hegemony will reign... That is until the BRICS get their shit together and thumb their collective noses at the bankers... It's coming, just give it some time...
That chart is a bullshit chart. they are comparing two un(perhaps remotely)connected economic variables to goal seek their thesis.
Last year, high oil prices were stifling the economy, this year low oil prices stifle the economy.
Who are we at war with? Eurasia? Eastasia?
The tribe cares about whores and blow, Obama cares about his next blow job. That’s about as deep as foreign policy goes in the USA.
WORLD WAR III: Anglo-American Axis vs. BRICS Alliance
World War III...
Why has the US been removing all secular leaders from the middle east and allowing islamic leaders into control? Threats to the petro-dollar reign? Or something more sinister?
The third war between Islam and International Zionism. The rise of athiesm? Luciferianism?
... F'n embarrassing, fighting like back room cubicle computer geeks
They know they are too stupid and weak for a real fight. However, what they don't know is that they are also too stupid for the one THEY chose too...
Assembling allies? What happened to the past allies? Iraq, Libya, Syria, Serbia, Panama, Venezuela? Is trouble starting in Brazil? What is EUkraine to Putin, an allie he does not directly assist but only sells limited weapons to?
The financial system is a linchpin of any country/empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bernhard
Come now - that's the least of our embarrassments. If you're looking for a real smirch on our collective honor take torture. That places us right up there in the running with the Third Reich, Pol Pot, North Korea, North Vietnam and ignorant, middle eastern, tribal barbarians. We're dishonored forever - worse than dishonored, because they knew it was ineffective and did it anyway. And if they knew it was ineffective and did it anyway one has to ask why. That, my friends, leads to some very uncomfortable ruminations. Try it, you'll see. What was it for? Training? Desensitization? I'll bet you can come up with other, equally creepy, reasons without much effort.
I agree.
The West is mostly populated by tribal barbarians.
Number one in death, destruction, and theft as usual.
exactly
Being a Zimbabwe wannabe will only work for a short time and would most likely hasten King Dollar's demise.
Funny how history keeps repeating itself... You would think someone at the top would learn from their ancestors... Just goes to show how evil and corrupt these fuckers really are and they think they are above it all...
They have learned from their ancestors. This is the very reason they keep doing the same shit over and over again, because it works. The sheep stay dumb and sheered and the uber-rich stay on top. Same as it ever was.
Articles like this remove all doubt that there has been a serious change at ZH. Sure - it's still free. But this is pure propoganga and crap. Where is Tyler? I want to climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower...
I thought the article was pretty fucking good. It shows a different side of the story you won't get on CNBC or FOX. Why don't you go over there and tell them how much they are pure propaganda? Bet the remarks are blocked or filtered out for that kind of message. I wouldn't know.
Respect your opinion - but this site use to be about the money and not the politics. We all (should) know where there is headed. You have been around (this site) long enough to know that the headline of this article is just silly BS. And I am seeing an increased slant of provocation, rather that information that I find - mmm, disturbing.
This country is headed for its' end. It is also one of the most heavely armed nations in the world (and I'm talking about the people). Controling those people, when TSHTF will not play well. But that is where this is headed.
I just grow weary of articles such as this that offer much in way of provocation and little in way of direction.
to my recollection it was always a heady brew of politics and economics with a portfolio management chaser.
In case you hadn't noticed, money has been completely politicized.
we are here to get a realistic point of view. doesn't mean we are taking it hook line sinker and boat...
speaking of boat, hehe...
Did you even read this article? The majority of it was about oil prices, lack of economic growth, unemployment, bankruptcies, bad bank debt, etc. And even when he discusses Putin near the end, he ties it in with economics, banking, and finance.
Economics is the politics of money.
No doubt a part of the reason many political partisans have emerged of late and have such shit attitdes to everything and everyone that's in any way not entirely aboard their train-wreck to butthead land.
Once again, read your history books. This is what dying empires do, they blow out debt, fuck up currency, and explode their miltary in an idiotic fanatsy that it's a economy as well as magic tool to force the rest of the world to do their bidding. Most of all, as they fall apart, they take over the world of finance....because they're desperate
You're looking for a direction in a world of chaos
LMAO - money IS politics!
"Articles like this remove all doubt that there has been a serious change at ZH. Sure - it's still free. But this is pure propoganga and crap. Where is Tyler? I want to climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower..."
I get so sick of hearing comments like this. The pemise of this site is Fight Club. If you don't like something, tear the shit out of it don't take it out on the person that brings it to you. I like the wide array of info here even if some of it is propaganda.
"You are an idiot." ~ Tyler Durden - Fight Club
Fixed it.
Politics - is concentrated economics.
I'm tired of listening to the propaganda from one side only.
CNN, Fox News, Reuters, and so on - all of them is elements of Western propaganda.
Thomas Mann told me to give you an up arrow
Cog-Dis went burko with an axe and cut them all down ... he has a bad day sometimes ... he's the first to admit it ... we all get like that some days.
"What the Obama administration should be worried about is the second-order effects that will eventually show up in terms of higher unemployment, market volatility, and wobbly bank balance sheets."
Maybe that's what the Manchurian candidate has been striving for all along?
I got a family member in Houston that supplies the oilfields and this guy just had a baby after he bought his very nice house with a pool.
He's already saying there's blood in the streets and he's a very nervous guy right now because it's not only his job but he's got most of his money in the company.
30 years old and in a matter of weeks he goes from walking in high cotton to shitting cottonballs.
Gluttony will bite you in the face.
" And if the saudi’s buy the broke fields and just decide to keep it all down, they’ll secure their income and it’s game over for America."
and the Saudi will say, YOU TOLD US TO DO IT.
"If the Saudis..." If the Saudis still exist! Think "If Exxon, BP, Conoco ..."
The Age of the Unthinkable
The end game for either the BRIC and EURASIA or the Petrodollar is well underway.
The final outcome is well known: Word War, starting in Europe.
Once China takes side: It will go globally.
Scrabble in Europe?
the shot heard accross the pond, or
the shot shot accross the pond?
Could be Boggle, although I think Scrabble is more popular. It would be a good way to decide which currency to use, though.
China already chose a side. It's own. and remains inscrutable about all other interactions.
From what I gather, China has recognized its own interests by picking Russia's side, as Russia has done in return with China:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/08rzue8ffism94t/China-
Russia_Double_Helix.docx
They've actually merged their militaries and related industries to a large extent . . .
China already has taken sides. Only question is: How many?
OK, i keep hearing WWIII bandied about as if it is a natural progression a al NWO.
I seriously would like to see a discussion: Where will the military battles take place? Who will be the gang of good guys and who will be the gang of Bad guys? Why will the MAD principle no longer hold fingers off the button? I assume the US will try to wear the white cowboy hat ....but where will th US get the economic strength to conduct the war... given its empty industrial shell, destroyed economy, and untrusted leaders. Where will the US find the soldiers to prosecute land battles, when it has been soundly defeated in virtually every land war it has engaged in since Viet Nam?
Its all very good for the Victoria Nulands of the world to skulk about with billions to overthrough the cesspool of East Euurope ....but in a real war, in Eastern Europe or the middle east, the US will get its ass kicked by peoples it has trained and armed over the last 40 years.
A serious discussion .
If there is a war one thing is for certain, for the first time in centuries the US is going to be attacked at home.
If a short range ballistic missile hits Russia then, as sure as eggs is eggs, a short range ballistic missile will pop out of the sea off the US coast and hit a US target, say the USN in Virginia.
This will be a rude shock and may well be what is needed to get peace.
WWIII started right after 911.
It is the USA and Allies against everyone who does not play their geopolitical game by their rules.
It is assymetric warfare, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_warfare > nothing is off the table and both sides attempt to exploit the apparent weakness of the other side.
As was the case in the last 2 WWs - both sides are the bad guys. The one where you live is slightly less odious than the other.
There are many proxy wars leading up to the real thing.
The Rules:
The USA has modified British "direct occupation" Imperialism by adopting "Franchise Imperialism".
Franchising is just Feudalism updated for the modern world.
You get to run the store (country) any way you want (HR policy, hire, fire, skim the till, etc).
You will use a US sanctioned Central Banker (usually a Goldman Sachs graduate) and be a member of good standing of the BIS and IMF (now we have you by the balls).
You will use US currency for all transactions.
You will use only approved suppliersYou will provide US with a corner office for US (CIA + Embassy) to monitor performance and provide stratgic advice.
Failure to comply will result in removal and replacement with new management.
And its also correct. Let us Always remember, do Not depend on the MSM to get the Real Story, expect to be misled and Important News kept away, if its not what TPTB wants The People to know.
Links=Important, Must reads + a few paragraphs
http://panampost.com/marcela-estrada/2014/06/16/g77-developing-nations-denounce-us-imperialism-welcome-russia-china/Developing Nations Denounce US Imperialism, Welcome Russia, China
Jun 16, 2014 - Over the weekend, the United Nation's Group of 77, joined by ... the Bolivian president publicly invited Russia to join the the bloc.
http://www.whiteoutpress.com/articles/2014/q2/133-g77-nations-vow-destroy-americas-new-world-order/133 G77 Nations vow to destroy America’s New World Order
By Mark Wachtler June 17, 2014. Bolivia. (ONN) The American and European media are doing everything they can to black this news out. But it’s not going to stay a secret for long. As of this weekend, there’s a new New World Order on Earth and its enemy is the United States, the EU, the UN Security Council and the world’s shadow government led by the IMF and WTO. This new alliance of poor countries wouldn’t be much of a threat, except it includes two-thirds of the world’s nations including China and India.
It’s a sad day for the American people when their government and state-sponsored news industry blacks out such an important news story. Americans actually have to rely on outlets like the Havana Times in Cuba, The Times of India, and United Nations press releases. There’s a reason this news is being censored across the West. And it’s only the latest global news story over the past two weeks on this subject blacked out from the American people. Read on to find out why. Dominoes beginning to fall This is just the latest organized attack on a global financial system rigged by corrupt governments and the multinational corporations that control them. Just last month, Russia and China signed a long term trade alliance that represents the first major crack in the US Dollar bubble. The two countries agreed to stop using US Dollars in their transactions and instead use their own two currencies. The two largest banks from both countries immediately announced they would be dumping the US Dollar as well. On top of that, the world’s ‘BRIC’ countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - have publicly declared their goal of replacing the corrupted US Dollar with some other global default currency. Now that Russia and China have finally taken actual steps to do that, the remaining two-thirds of the world will most likely begin making preparations to stop using the US Dollar as well. It was only this weekend that 133 of them pledged to do just that. The scary part for Americans is that both Washington and Wall Street have promised this would never happen, because if it did, it would destroy the US economic system and possibly the US itself. Read the Whiteout Press article, ‘Russia-China Deals move US Dollar closer to Collapse’ for more information.+1 Thanks for the links! Take a look at mine above on China-Russia . . . serious things are afoot that we just ain't hearing a damn thing about.
Thanks Bob, I did go back to read your link, above, I would have bypased but felt it was a Must by you underlining its worth to me ... made me think about that quote about "If The People ever found out..."
ain't that the truth.
I'd like to see Putin bend Queenie over and make her look like this.
http://syncrenicity.com/2013/11/21/sync-breaking-news-royal-families-crimes-corporate-scams-nazi-links-all-parts/black-eye/
"Putin is not the one trying to create the New World Order..."
WRONG!
Putin and Xi Jinping ARE the ones working at creating a NWO. One that will undermine the post-Soviet era OWO.
OboJamma and his Euro-groupies are merely trying to maintain the existing U.S.-dominated OWO and block the birth of any NWO.
That is true.
The most important thing is to stop US tyranny from spreading across the entire world.
For at least the last 50 years, the US has been the most destructive killing country on earth. Time to stop it.
There's always going to be an alpha dog.
If you ain't the top dog then you're just another dog.
It's just the way things work.
I ate so many hot dogs I can't look a cold dog in the face
Jesus. He even looks a bit like Picard.
Exactly knuckles Putin knows his history. If anything Putin is standing in the way of a Totalitarian New World Order, albeit for his own purposes that are also not altruistic.
Origins of the Cold War: How Stalin Foiled a ‘New World Order’Nicely put.
Checkers would be more appropriate than chess... both in regards to Obama's "war plan" and the author's presentation of evidence. Wars are more complicated than chess, except when simulated within the computational confines of a computer. In war there are usually more than 2 sides, and additional participants can be on more than one side. The sides' pieces are almost never equal and neither are their desired outcomes. Where war and chess are alike is in the forethought given to the steps and stratagems required to achieve one's side's desired outcome(s). All sides see the other's moves and calculate and adjust their actions in order to achieve the best possible outcome, even if one of the kings (or perhaps he is a queen) is a dilettante and blathering idiot, not of all his staff are.
In the face of rising Saudi production and falling prices, Putin didn't decide that low oil prices or the Saudis were the enemy, or cut his own petroleum production and exports to defend energy prices, or even criticize the engineered price drop. If Barry can't pull a rabbit out of his ass before the debt laden corner of the US energy sector goes BK or sell another massive bankster bailout to the sheeple - his gambit will make walking into a Fool's Mate look smart by comp.
I hate to admit it, but I love it. Imagine... someone actually daring to stand up to the Israeli/US nexus of world domination. Too long has this country spread its malevolent muscle over the planet. It needs to be matched to bring sanity back to international relations - and eliminate the hubris of the "superpower" position enjoyed by the U.S. for decades. In the not-too-distant-future, the dollar's status as world currency will evaporate and with it our subservient politicians' ability to dictate the policies of other nations. The real fear is our nuclear arsenal and who controls it. I wouldn't put it past any of the pre-approved ass-licking candidates for President to actually push the button somewhere if ordered by the money power to do so. I hope my cynicism is proven wrong.
It was the Pentagon right that played out the WWIII war scenarios with China, but, and I hope, it will be the US vs China, and Russsia and India and Brazil and many others on a gameboard where most of the red color is debt
And then there's derivatives. Jim Willie ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynAAXzs3PUY
Jim's got the right stuff right now.
USA version of USS Donald Cook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkKLbJsywAs
The US Navy did nothing? Did not even turn on their radars? Or were their radars not working so well.
The Russian ECM jamming or some sort of localized EMP is not that hard to create. To shut everything down is another matter. My guess it is some sort of EMP pulse that scrambles computers and software.
Yep, the USN never denied the incident, but never admitted that their defenses were totally turned off.
I never read a story about it in the MSM. The Russian media carried the story of the disabling of the Cook's entire Aegis radar system and implied that the dozen passes of the SU 24 were to demonstrate how helpless the ship would to an attack.
http://indian.ruvr.ru/2014_04_21/Russian-Su-24-scores-off-against-the-Am...
A month or two later, the USN tested a laser beam which could destroy small craft and dinghies.
If the Russians can develop a means of protecting their equipment while disabling others and can operate it from greater altitude, this might be akin to the discovery of gunpowder.
by the way, I've started to notice the disappearance of stories I have bookmarked out of google.
Obama must have put Winston Smith back at his 'memory hole'.
Bid - try going to https://archive.org and try each bookmark in the wayback machine, they may have been saved. Even better, each time you want to bookmark something do it via the wayback machine (if it doesnt already have it, it will offer to add it), then bookmark the archived copy. These archived copies seem more difficult to remove, plus others can access the pages if they are removed.
Also try something like evernote to cache pages for yourself.
Download a dead show or two while you are there.
Well, thank you for the info.
I didn't have to use it. I went to my bookmarks to get the url and the story came up.
I must have tried 3 or 4 times yesterday.
Maybe you've seen this account.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html
the site says
435 billion pages saved over time which sounds like a lot until you remember that the Nat Debt is $18 trillionJust speculation on my part, but if I recall correctly US Navy vessels have defensive systems that shut down electronics on ships automatically in case an EMP goes off nearby (in order to defend the electronics, think ship wide EMP circuit breaker). The big news would be if the Russians can trigger this from a single plane flying nearby (e.g. it wasn't a real EMP but the ship's systems thought it was)
If the Russians really can do this, its REALLY bad news, as it means that either this defensive circuit breaker will either need to be turned off, or that the ship is highly vulnerable to a REAL EMP. Lose lose...
This is a long game for sure, if the Chinese/Russian heads can stay calm, help each other out economically while oil is tanking, continue and or increase oil production then start purchasing broke/failing US/Texan rigs to pump even more cheap oil into the US economy then can they tank the entire US economy, by doing 2 simple things.
Stop oil production and shut down all purchased US/Texan rigs.
Use stockpiled cheap oil and stop purchasing.
This will ruin most of the US and European economies because the price of oil will then be $300-$400 a barrel, food and services will triple in price, jobs will be wiped off the board and the ponzi markets will crash.
Now if Russia can promise the Saudis a few of those t-50s on the cheap, this entire game is over and the US will have lost its power base "The Homeland" of broke debt fused consumers who are starving in the streets.
Russia and China should sign some moar trade agreements stat.
Everything will be clearer if you consider, Obummer, Putin and other world leaders as the public figureheads of crime families. Obummer is the Manchurian Candidate creation of the New World Order, a cokehead turned President by the dark core of the CIA. Putin is a short guy in the Randy Newman song mold whose smartness made him the choice of the KGB 30 years ago to go places. Guys like the UK's Cameron and Blair and the like are idiots who just follow orders and protect the Rothschild interests, including accomplices who are pedophile murderers. OPEC, a creation of Royal Dutch Shell, is a sham front also controlled by the New World Order. Al Qaeda was created by the Saudis at the behest of the NWO to promote the establishment of a worldwide police state. The only problem now is that the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 has led to the creation of over 1 quadrillion dollars in artificial debt by insane Wall Street derivative counterfeiters, debt that could collapse the world economy before the Rothschild backed NWO establishes a despotic world government where the NWO controls everything, from banks to dope trafficking to national armies. Russia is a hold-out now, a crime family not part of the Rothschild's Mafia. If necessary, a pretext will be created to start a world war to knock out the Russians. Remember, we are dealing with insane and degenerate people in the George Soros mold. Anything is possible.
the business cycle is a creation of central banks to steal assets and to consolidate power. 1 quadrillion is just the new high. the collapse is part of the plan. as is the new world war. order out of chaos.
Keep posting Junction, dead nails on for idiots to read.
if i agree with junction, does that keep me from being considered an idiot?
Excellent Junction, although I would question Putin being as criminal as Bush, Obama et.el. simply for the sake that he loves his country even though he's obvously a rich oligarch. He didn't allow planes to come in and kill thousands of people, ransack a community in Texas with kids and blow up a FED building and kill a lot of people for militia fear awareness, all in the name of loving America.
For that I give him credit.
Hpefully space x red dragon will be ready by November so we can finally get out of here by then.
Oh, sorry "only us chosen ones will be allowed to leave."
HAIL CAESER!
Pretty good analysis but the Russian crime family is split, it still has a Rothschild's Mafia faction in there. So far the local mafia has put up a really good fight to kick the foreigners out but it is not over yet. They have now brought in the non Rothschild Triads from over the border to help out with funding and back door protection issues.
Yes,all mafia bosses. Not rootin for Putin when he has nukes aimed at me. Obama and family are the instigators for the most part though.
I'm hoping that Putin manages to outmaneuver the US while avoiding a real war. This isn't because I like Putin, but rather because what the US is doing is repugnant and I really don't want to have to deal with inbound MIRVs over Kirtland AFB. I'll take a peaceful loss to Russia, given what's at stake.
He already has outmaneuvered the US. That occurred when he didn't take the bait in the Ukraine and when MH17 couldn't be pinned on Russia. The oil price collapse is a last ditch effort to take him down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT085isnyB0
Ukrainains protesting against IMF austerity in Kiev.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnOwgGsw-1g
You wanted to be in the EU now welcome to Greece's world of misery.
Maybe these people will wake up and go after Porky, Yats and the other crminal oligarchs in Kiev.
It's almost like Putin is giving them the rope they need....
De Rothschild Bank is just going to have to cough up in the long run
one way or another because they can't genocide all of us before we
get to them. The World banking system will topple on the next system wide crash and this repetition of failure is eating away at the footings of the edifice of the Ponzi scheme that we call financialization. Most assuredly, De Rothschild Bank is the closest entity in the World to the FED and ultimately is the rightful owner of the Corporation of the United States of America when all is said and done. If the USA fails to generate income the de Rothschild Bank fails to generate income, and collectively, the USA Western World banking empire spirals down on a
Hegelian Spiral of loss, debt, and bankruptcy that spins out-of-control.
I wish you were right. But methinks they can very well eliminate any proportion of our species they choose via biological warfare whenever they see it as the way to go. The sheeple will be clueless and extremely busy until dead.
"Everything will be clearer if you consider..."
Consider getting back onto your lithium tablets. That should "clear things up" considerably.
Funny, but wrong anyways.
Moron.
Read your history books, it's rarely good guys beating bad guys. it's bad guys getting too big until they (1) implode and (2) get blocked by the others
Non of this lot are actually good guys. It is the lesser evil future we need.
Good guys bad guys work in tandem. Team playa's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Qt6a-vaNM
"At that point George Bush Sr. turned into assholes and shit himself"
Actually Davey is dead nuts spot on.
I'm not really interested in another new world order run by a different brand of kleptocrats. Anyone who thinks human nature changes in any way has rocks in their heads.
as long as my nuts still work
;-)
all while killing until they run out of killers...
sign up, they are always looking for a few good warriors
Putin is Da Fucken MAN!
Donetsk republic. 8 year old boy lost both legs and a right arm when a NATO bomb landed and exploded on his family's front porch. His 5 year old brother and his step father were killed.
http://www.1tv.ru/news/world/275406
The terrorist state of Ukraine is conducting genocide of Russian people with the full support of the terrorist European states of France, Germany, England and all the others.
Thanks God for Putin, a keeper of Peace.
An excellent point, and the complete lack of coverage by the news media is as sickening as it is predictable.
this shit will spread to merica. charlie h shit. then what say you?
blame the bees for stinging or the hive poker, ha...
jim,
You are correct:
- ZH has been bought by RTN
- ZH political, geopolitical, and economic reviews & predictions are as accurate as ZH propaganda to buy Gold at $1900 or ZH's apocalyptic prediction for US economy taking place tomorrow (the US dollar as a reserve currency must collapse first before ZH predictions come true)
- I still read ZH since only idiots can read mainstream media with their propaganda for feeble-minded and imbeciles
- It is very sad since at its beginning ZH was very interesting and provocative website
Everything morphs over time. Unfortunately, not always for the better.
Obama would rather blame Putin than himself
In the race, it's the US horse that's way more ready to have a heart attack than the Russian horse.
The Russian horse doesn't need to carry the weight of debt the US horse does.
Flogging a debt horse.
Thusly are memes born...
So big deal, FEDGOV has made it a point to offshore manufacturing since the 1980's... and now the oil guys want more manipulation to protect their yobs? Welcome to globalism mofo's.
The U.S. is never going to encircle Asia, we have already sold out to Asia.
The U.S. has crossed the Rubicon, and the New Rome is collapsing as the Old Rome did.
tell us something we don't know yet, genius
Nobody here on ZH understands global chess. Russia is the LAST big piece on the chess board, after Russia is dealt with US/NATO will take out China without even firing one shot.
Answer this: If US/NATO was to COMPLETELY embargo china how long would it take for 1 BILLION china men to start starving and take out their own government. NOT VERY LONG.......
A few years have gone by since 45. The whole world will not sit and watch the US do this and of course China holds no US debt thus has no leverage nor any sizable economic relationship with others
+ both have nukes..and EMP weapons.
Putin's hand was forced by the relentless expansion of NATO, the overthrow of Gaddafi and the destabilization of Ukraine, right at Russia's doorstep. Did the US expect Putin to rollover for American interests like some medieval Muslim country?
American foreign policy is mindlessly driven by the machinery of our Warfare State - a vast accretion of economic, diplomatic, spying and military capabilities which are ceaselessly in search of missions and justifications for their colossal call on the nation’s resources. If you don’t believe that just read Ray McGovern’s succinct summary below of the US’s epic double-cross of Russia on NATO.
It began as a pledge by the first Bush Administration to Gorbachev that in return for German unification and liberation of the “captive nations” there would be “not an inch” of NATO expansion. It ended up its opposite, and for no plausible reason of American security whatsoever. In fact, NATO went on to draft nearly the entire former “Warsaw Pact”, expanding its membership by 12 nations. So doing, it encroached thousands of kilometers from its old Cold War boundaries to the very doorstep of Russia.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-17/bill-clinton%E2%80%99s-epic-dou...
The demonization of Putin by America has not helped:
Since the beginning of the week, the three most influential mass circulation newsmagazines of the United States, Britain, and Germany—Time, The Economist, and Der Spiegel—have published cover stories that combine wild accusations against Vladimir Putin with demands for a showdown with Russia.
The most striking and obvious characteristic of these cover stories is that they are virtually identical. The CIA has scripted them all. The stories employ the same insults and the same fabrications. They denounce Putin’s “web of lies.” The Russian president is portrayed as a “depraved” mass murderer.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/07/30/pers-j30.html
Which reminds me of my own ZH comment on 17th May about this matter:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-17/bill-clinton%E2%80%99s-epic-dou...
Good call! Too often these left-liberals dig out great stories and then punk out on the implications. This "pointless" meme has no power in it. Maybe that kind of weaselry was forgiveable as a strategy to hold onto a position and get the story past the thought police 5, 10 years ago. In this moment, as the Empire takes off the mask and the gloves, there will be no safety in wishy-washy.
We're fast approaching the moment to grab ourselves by the balls, speak plainly and commit to the battle. There will be only two sides of the barricades; we'll all have to get used to strange bedfellows. What will matter most is who will have our backs - and who can we count on to stand fast and not flinch.
The Empire will use every trick they know to keep the issues convused, but the two sides will be our side and their side, and our success or failure will depend on getting clear about which is which.
Agreed. It's amazing that MSM continues to report growing confrontations between Washington and its True Believers -vs- Russia & China as though they are minor squabbles between friends. When in reality the two sides are preparing for a major military confrontation. When and where it will be is anybody's guess but it's on the cards. When Obola virtually admitted on NPR to starting an economic war against Putin for purposes of regime change, he lit the blue touch paper. Putin is showing amazing restraint. But it won't be forever.
And when it happens, the Big Reset will be slipped in. Watch what happens to bank deposits.
I'm sure people alive in the 1930s would see what's happening today as a re-run of that time.
NATO is a paper tiger.
http://russia-insider.com/en/2014/12/16/1936
NATO cannot even put together a 5,000 man rapid reaction force. Why? Mainly because most Europeans do not want to fight and die for the ZWO-EU-USSA criminal oligarchs.
People are not stupid. The Ukrainians do not want to fight for Porky and Yats. The Azov nazi batallion are little cowards hiding out in Kiev. If they go anywhere near Donbas they will get their asses kicked by Givi, Motorola and Mozgovi.
The Poles? Good luck. The Poles will quickly be facing 20,000 Chechen volunteers. I think NovoRussia can beat the Poles without any help.
American kids dumb enough to go fight for Barrack Trayvon Obola? Jeb? Hitlerry? F them. F their boss Soros too. Any American kid who wants to fight for this scum is as dumb as Gomer Pyle USMC.
Agree with much of that Freddie. But in the case of Iraq, Washington didn't use NATO for that war. It may not use it for its next major war of choice against Russia/China, preferring to take direct lead itself, with a few willing allies like the UK. And when Washington discovers there's little appetite across mainland Europe for WWIII, it may have little choice.
Are you aware of THIS Why Wait?
http://www.energyenhancement.org/old_rothschild_and_rockefeller-Mises-Ha...
Not left or right, INDEPENDENT, and I do my homework bud.
I had to drive 25 miles to work each day a few years ago. Gas was $3.99. So I helped line the pockets of many in an industry that is a cash cow for world domination and political maneuvering. Now they are on the wrong side of the manipulation and are complaining.
I feel for Texans but the free market dictates where I have to search for work in most instances, why should oil, healthcare, insurance, etc. be any different?
John 3:16
DING DING DING.......+1000
Fuckin A, Miggy. I hope oil drops down to 5 bucks a barrel and stays there! I don't give a fuck if a bunch of overpayed tradesmen have to settle for a decent wage instead of being paid more than a fucking doctor! I hope the tarsands in Alberta shuts down completely. Maybe then I won't have to look at redneck motherfuckers driving around in $100,000 brand new trucks with truck nuts hanging off the hitch.
LMFAO...Truck Nuts! Seen em. Any motherfucker even thinking that is cool needs to be institutionalized....I'm a farmer...and I like nuts as well as the next guy, but if you have to hang a set on your receiver hitch, you probably ain't sportin any in real life.
Truck nutz.........
http://m.youtube.com/results?q=ned%20trucknuts&sm=3
Thanks. I have you to blame for spending the last 2 hours or so listening to Ned's fantastic prank calls.
The best pranksters were the Jerky Boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZllDjMXSjOE
OK....which one of you nutless wonders dowvoted me? Whoever it is, I'll bet you've got a set of these fuckface!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB7R_p5m0FM
+1000 db - the blue nuts......nearly choked from laughing. awesome
3 winters in the patch, there are a whole bunch of people who needed to be taken down a few notches anyways...they are about to find out that it wasn't their own inate greatness, but rather BLACK GOLD that covered up a whole bunch of obvious deficiencies, professional and otherwise.
+1 If I had a dollar for every time I seen those truck nuts.....seriously - stupidest thing I thnk I ever seen.
Except for the guy selling them that feeds the nutless ego.
Seriously, aside from Pet Rocks, I wish I'd thought of that one.
Or beanie babies or pokeman. The list is endless.
If one observes the adults are as easily manipulated as children. I really think the children have a better bullshit meter.
If it appeals to ego or vanity, you've got a winner.
Remember "Glamour Shots"? I think I'm gonna work on "Depression Chique" as soon as I can get an angle. A new twist on breast feeding perhaps.
http://becuo.com/dorothea-lange-photographs-great-depression
There are so many redneck tweakers with those things. I HATE them. The ones that come from Arizona harass teh little mexican trucks on the road and manage to both get everyone else car sick and belly up on the side of the road.
They make more noise than Semis.
They carry nothing but the diobese American driving themselves through Taco Bell, Starbucks.... they all drive their crotchfruits to elemenatary school in those things.
HAven't these freaks ever heard of this thing called a school bus?
If it's not them, it's these other boomers driving SUVs with a "Save Tahoe" sticker on the bumper.
I want to clock every last one of these oil PR funded tools out.
No, back then a greater portion of your paycheck flowed elsewhere. Now you have more discretionary funds for booze and lotto tickets. Recursive taxes, either way.
Texans will do fine. The economy is not nearly as dependent on oil as the 1980's. The Eagleford Shale in the Valley is mostly Mexican illegals working the rigs. The Barnett Shale is natural gas, and that isn't going away unless we move to nuclear or back to coal. Houston will continue to drill offshore and import oil. The Permian Basin isn't shale and their cost is about the same as the Saudis at $20-30. The ones that will really hurt are North Dakota, steel industry, and heavy equipment makers.