This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
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.
- 94263 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -



There are so many variables that could impact the current situation and the timing of those variables further complicates the situation.
My guess is that the final outcome over months/years will not be the one that either side expects.
I dont think too many love putin, they simply like him a tad bit more than the west. Lesser of two evils, if you will. Putin is not chemtrailing his own population, he is not forcing vaccines that are dangerous, he does not promote GMO food, he hasnt invaded Iraq on lies, nor Libya nor Egypt. The entire world is sick of the west, and the blowback is going to be bad. It will take them some time, but the mission is to get rid of the dollar and they are almost there.
Or maybe all of this is controlled and the Rothchilds are done with the dollar and will control Russia/China in the NWO. Something similar happend WW2. I dont know, I just have learned everything is a matrix.
Wanna know who gives a shit about you? It is not Putin or Obama or any other weasel you can think of. Take a stroll to the shitter and look in the mirror. There is your saviour.
Fear not. The zh 'headlights' deer will save us all.
Put this on a t-shirt. Hope you make millions.
china after ww3 will be the usa after ww2. russia and usa will mutually obliterate each other, while, of course, taking europe, the initial battleground and us proxy, down with them. china will be left standing, becoming the new vehicle for the world empire. a manufacturing powerhouse to rebuild the world.
just my 2 cents.
Perhaps with a conventional war. With nukes no one will be left standing. The effects of nuclear war will flow around the globe along with a nuclear winter, long lived radiation, etc. The human species checks itself out. Its called 'MAD'.
http://www.nucleardarkness.org
"china after ww3 will be the usa after ww2. russia and usa will mutually obliterate each other"
Even if nukes armed China, India, Pakistan and Israel (CIPI) stayed neutral from a nuclear confrontation between the West (including nukes armed the U.S., France and U.K.) and Russia, the CIPI will be nuked by either the U.S. or Russia or both.
"I dont think too many love Putin, they simply like him a tad bit more than the west. Lesser of two evils, if you will. Putin is not chemtrailing his own population, he is not forcing vaccines that are dangerous, he does not promote GMO food, he hasnt invaded Iraq on lies, nor Libya nor Egypt. "
So just what is there to like about Putin?
Ask the Russians. They love him. I personally don't care because he has done nothing for me or to me.
What is there to like about any western puppets? They've been raping and pillaging us for decades.
So just what is there to like about Putin?
He stands in the way of the bloody meglomania of London, Washington, and Tel Aviv.
As long as you ask, This is what I like about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBP7ZYehN-E
He's a real person and not a clone out of the US College of Professional Politicians.
Russia has indeed started the largest (and desperately needed) GMO study which keeps all of the Monsanto and poison industry out of the exercise
"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."
What if all those negatives are happy news, mission accomplished? This guy ain't no Eisenhower. He's here to wreck the joint.
Our Manchurian Candidate has already
* discredited and wrecked the Democratic Party,
* derailed the consensus that had formed by 2009 to rein in the Security State and the War on Islam,
* stunned the "grant-funded left" into silence and split it along racial lines,
* headed off a gathering health care reform bandwagon with the outrageous Obamacare fraud,
* convinced our youth that voting is a waste of time and
* turned "hope and change" into a bitter gag-line when they were exactly what we needed most.
No Republican could have pulled this all off! Not even a corrupt Corporate Democrat could have managed it; at some point something would have triggered some long-buried ounce of integrity left over from their youth and they would have tripped themselves up!
If he makes it through the next two years he will be the Most Celebrated Ex-President on Wall Street, in Langley and Arlington and on the exclusive Country Club circuit where his real constituency hangs out, and his future will be secured.
That pretty much sums it up.
"He'll be playing golf in Hawaii while everyone else dies in shootout with Police."
Makes me laugh actually.
The people at the top of the parties could give a rats ass about the parties, they know they are a scam and they are paid to lead the charade.
I'm sure two years of community college will fix it
The two parties are the same. The Republicans fawn and cave to obam at every turn.
Like dumb white American males watching Trayvons play pro and college ball like like sheep. Cheering for their own extinction like serfs. Dumb idiots who watch TV and Hollywood. They enjoy being slaves. I bet many posting on Zh fit the bill.
I woke up this morning wondering if I have failed to give the Devil his due. Upvoted 38-0 on ZH? What am I missing? Now, when Obama suddenly seems to have grown a backbone?
Five, four years ago I was still looking for a silver lining. Too late now. If he makes what from here looks like the right move on the FX Pipeline (dead anyway as the Tar Sands bubble collapses) or making Community Colleges free (right move, but chump change), it's because some strategists in Langley or GS have called it, as part of a broader strategy to head off, split or capture the populist uprising that's brewing.
Now that his Presidency is a Lost Cause, the pressure will be on his disillusioned activist base to rally to his defense, further separating them from an embittered and disillusioned people and further compounding the confusion. This will make of it "a completed work of art".
This article is a POS - woe is me (highly levered oil and gas industry) - bereft of any ANY cogent economic analysis.
Normally, I thumb up all of your posts.
....bereft of any ANY cogent economic analysis.
C'mon man....that is like asking for somebody to put honey on your ass at a bear convention.
Are you meaning "bears" or "bears?" Because one way might be fairly pleasurable to somebody with honey on his ass.
BARES... for fuck sakes!
Philo! I understand. But I'm sick of the continuous and faulty argument that says that the price of oil has to be .....X....in order that......Y..... (presumably status quo) remains. Reality is a bitch - and I have no sympathy for redistribution arguments disguised as an economic analysis prescribing that price oughta be this, that, or whatever. Its pathetic actually. Because by extension you could substitute any industry for the writer's "oil and gas" and soon learn that the same argument could be made for every fucking job - every industry - everywhere.
I'm a price taker and I manage $12M in assets and there is only one direction I will point my finger at when things go to shit - central banks. The rest is up to me. To the oil patch guys, I say Own It - because everybody else has to.
Besides, if I were an oil and gas guy, I would be tooling up for plant turnarounds - refurbishing contracts - capital maintenanace and the like. There is always a silver lining, because, there is always something to do - it might not pay $150K plus a year - but - there is always something to do.
Tell you what - right off the top of my head - the Ag. sector would love to be able to contract a mobile welder to come out to their place and make repairs and even fabricate some shit. I could keep that guy busy for a month. But, that fucker wants $150 for his truck and $90/hr to burn rod. Guess what Philo. I burn the fucking rod myself, because it makes no economic sense otherwise.
There's always something to do and shit that needs doing Philo - but - it boils down to what people are prepared to do - look after (the client), or, just think about themselves.
Pareto: I don't disagree with you but we'll have a much bigger problem. All those laid off guys/gals that make $100k/year for shuffling paper at a remote site and thought they were Real Estate Gurus and leveraged their paycheck are about to feel what its like to have no income when they are laid off. Kiss the monster truck goodbye as well, unless they can ride it out and continue to service their personal debt.
I'm located in Calgary. We've seen this shit since the 70's. A family member of mine was here when oil was $11/barrel around the late 90's. He's a bankster, and was right in the thick of it. He still made money... every other sheep lost their ass.
What was that old bumper sticker from back in the day? "Please Lord, bring back the boom... I promise not to piss my money away again".
oh for sure therre will be fall out. People are going to get a huge wake-up call. Assets will exchange hands and all sorts of econmoic disturbances will occur as the monetary malfeasance - uncovered - is cleared, and life begins anew.
but. its no justification for emphatically screaming from the roof top that "this can't happen - not to us - there is too much on the line!" bullshit.
are we about markets or are markets just good enough for some and not for others?
people are going to have to adjust their expectations, particularly in Alberta. But, in any event, this will be the 4th time in my lifetime we will yet again see "Please Lord, bring back the boom and I promise not to piss it all away this time."
Amen brother. We've heard it before, and others will hear it again long after we're dead.
Attah boy. Much better.
Tell you what - right off the top of my head - the Ag. sector would love to be able to contract a mobile welder to come out to their place and make repairs and even fabricate some shit. I could keep that guy busy for a month. But, that fucker wants $150 for his truck and $90/hr to burn rod. Guess what Philo. I burn the fucking rod myself, because it makes no economic sense otherwise.
Nice economic analysis. That is the kind of shit that is missing from textbooks....real world consequences.
Yeah. Guess I shouldn't been so hard on the writer. But this has to be the 50th article we have seen on here - same diatribe - same mantra - laying blame on others (Putin et al), when at the end of the day - its just cover for a psedo redistribution argument. Thanks man. Will be more respectful in future.
No no no...I was teasing you for throwing a softball knowing that you have an awesome fastball.
Hey Philo - speaking of welders, I just hired ANOTHER one (3rd one so far in the past 6 months) because the two previous ones didn't show up or bother to bring back an entire CRATE of material (that's the short version).
No worries, I get the material back but it's such a pain in the fucking ass to keep going through this routine. I don't know how these assholes roll up in new 1-ton 4x4's with full portable welding and cutting gear on their trucks and you never hear from them again after agreeing to their price. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!
Putin is a pawn of Rothschilds. This is not his game at all, this is Rothschilds' game for global dominance - against U.S. dollar and Rockefellers.
nobody has to control putin. he has been made the evil archenemy by the western propaganda. us/nato has russia pretty much cornered. it's just a matter of pressure they have to apply to get the reaction they expect from russia. the coup in ukraine was the first step, and russia had no choice as to act and secure crimea. everything is going as planned, unfortunately.
about the old families - they have learned generations ago that it's more effective to collaborate than to compete.
Too bad the Russians don't send some agents out to wipe out the old banking families. Then I'll be cheering for Putin
"There is a power so organized, so subtle, so complete, and so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." - Woodrow Wilson
The British had a plan to assassinate Hitler in WWII. They called it off when they realized that Hitler's melding in military affairs was one of the most serious problems the German army had to deal with. I see a parallel here.
"Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake." - Napoleon
Cannot say for sure, but that is a definite maybe....
I read some weeks back (article disappeared a few days later) the rothchilds had announced they had taken interests in the chinese gold exchange, having left the london fix some years back.
As for black gold. First you read the house of saud is overproducing to hurt Putin for DC, then the goal is to bust the junk bonds financing the oil shale/DC competition, now the argument is the saud's are giving Putin leverage against dollar hegemony. So which is it, or is it all three at once, pieces parts of a black swann grander plan??
The sheeple are always the last to know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ynAAXzs3PUY
"Quiet the contrary"
I agree. No one wants to listen to the contrarians.
All of the sudden the price of oil is all over the news.
When it's $100.00 a barrel it's great, when it's $40.00 the fucking world is coming to an end.
When Bush was president the asshole media would stand out in front of gas stations telling us how bad it was at $2.00-3 a gallon. The current piece of shit in the white house catches narry a glancing blow when it comes to price.
Tough shit for the oil bidness and industry, they'll survive. Meanwhile I'll take $20.00 a barrel!
You reap what you sow.
When it was 3.50 or more for the past 4 fuckn years and no media cover it,, Chuckie and the rest of the Communist Dems were not standing on the steps of Congress yelling to hell about high gas prices because it would impact dear leader. Get a fuckn clue.
Just what are the foreign policy objectives in the Middle East if any?
TrulyStupid: Just what are the foreign policy objectives in the Middle East if any?
In a nutshell, to break shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDY6AFoZrsk
50 years down the road and you still can't smell the black sticky stuff?
"Swing producer" and the battle between the americans and the English.
Looks like it is winding down to me. Not just oil has collapsed in price...
This:
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2014/07/the-unfolding-of-yinons-zionist-plan-fo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnskeu-puE part one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3boC2D-iviI part two
Obama is the on enabling Putin. They are on the same side.
What Putin need enabling for?
He da coolest of da cool.
I can remember back in the 60's and 70's when Russia was the real enemy...Fuck, we used to sit around the TV during the Olympics cheering on the fucking home team....Downvote me bro, but I find myself cheering on the Russians. Fuck Obama, Boehner, Janet Yellen, Lord Blankfein...we're all fucked, and rather than see the USA continue on it's current march toward total Anarchy, I'd just love to sit poolside in the backyard and watch the ICBMs heading over to fry our sorry asses....we voted for it, we've allowed it....time to pay the Piper. Long Live Putin.
OH....on a lighter note...some motherfucker called me last night asking if I wanted to invest $ 85K in a fucking oilwell. I shit you not. All tax deductible. I have no idea how long into my rant I was before he hung up on me...but no one was there when I bid farewell.
I'm with ya, DB51, the mind-boggling thing is that there is only about 1K - 10K of "them" and 1,000K of "us"! There needs to be a seminal moment where the 1,000K tsunami the 10K ... similar to the French "simultaneous" take out of the "terrorists". The REAL terrorists need to feel the Blowback!
I'm with ya, DB51, the mind-boggling thing is that there is only about 1K - 10K of "them" and 1,000K of "us"! There needs to be a seminal moment where the 1,000K tsunami the 10K ... similar to the French "simultaneous" take out of the "terrorists". The REAL terrorists need to feel the Blowback!
America ends nations for attempting to "circumvent dollar-denominated business and financial transactions"
I also think they get bombed if they aren't watching anough Hollywood crap movies.
If it is a choice between Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger...I think I'd take Henry.
Stick them ear to ear, that way one bullet ought to do it.
ROFLMAO
Great visual.
Or one sword.
Commodities versus dollar interest. Swift leverage versus prominence. West versus east, or people versus fascism?
Pick your poison versus flow. Choice is not ours bitchez. Choose carefully.
The weaponization of Oil by Saud now encounters the weaponization of finance launched by the US against Russia.
It's not clear who will be winner and who will be loser.
The weaponization of free speech makes Europe pivot in the fight against Obscurantism.
Russia has also told the West it reserves the right to weaponize its nuclear capability if NAto uses its force to push Ukraine towards its vital space.
Meanwhile Boko Haram has obliterated north Nigeria by weaponizing female bait to spread hate.
All those guys died in Paris as libertarians who weaponized mirth.
If Daesh weaponizes death wish in Syria we will have to weaponize Hope to squash it.
Where does one find Hope? Its rarer than gold and much more expensive.
Maybe we need martyrs to create it. Sad but History always repeats the hard lessons.
My hero.
Neither Obama nor US is behind this oil price slump.
This is just a demonstration of power - kind of 1000 lashes - from the Saudis. AND their friends.
In their view this is nothing else but:
Fuck Putin
Fuck USSA
Fuck GB
Fuck EU
Fuck Venezuela
Fuck Iran
Fuck Iraq
Fuck the whole planet.
And keep in mind who REALLY is the king in town.
Fuck the Sauds.
Fuck Mohammed.
Fuck the sheiks.
Fuck their harems.
Fuck their people.
Fuck their country.
m. KING hubbert
If Russia and China are on the other side of the 300trillion in derivatives just gifted to US taxpayers the game is in the 8th inning and down by 10.
The 300 $trillion figure has not been mentioned on TV or talk radio much, so it must not be true. What was true was the SCARY N. KOREA HACK THAT ALMOST KILLED US ALL!!!!
New World Order in just 1 picture
Putin flashing his gang symbol of true allegiance
All this crying the blues about how oil HAS to be $100+/bbl is complete horseshit.
Go back and look at a historical chart. From 1984 - 2003 Brent traded below $35/bbl. No one was crying the blues about break-even margins then (yes, I'm taking inflation into consideration). So why suddenly, referring to the last 8 years, is $50/bbl so earth shattering? That price would certainly cover inflation given the previous trend in prices.
Suddenly late 2003 we get the ramp to $130/bbl in late 2007, then thanks to Wall St. it dumps below $50/bbl then back up above the $100/bbl party zone and now plunging toward sub $50/bbl today. The only folks that need $100/bbl are the US producers with recent investments in new domestic infrastructure (and that's with a nice profit margin) and over-reliant states that got too cozy sucking on that oil teat. Keep in mind that oil is currently the same price as it was 10 years ago, so how did all these countries, so quickly, become so heavily dependant on oil revenue?
As for the recent peak prices, the test was past that people could, and did, tolerate and absorb the higher prices for fuel. Yeah, there was bitching & complaining, but it was business as usual.
Saudi Arabia is like the Wizard of Oz in this parable, only they may lose a few friends if this continues very much longer. Once you get a taste of Champagne Dreams and Cavier Wishes there's no going back. Unless of course the whole house of cards falls on the House of Saud as well.
So the play here is BTFD. What do you have to lose? Brent rebounds in 6 months above $100/bbl and things are hunky dory or everyone on the planet takes a proverbial bath as the effects of greed unwinds it's way through the global markets (per the above "analysis").
All this isn't going to matter anyway after that asteroid on the 26th.
@IDrinkYourMilkshake
+1
Best reply to this article.
If we will take as the basis of official data on inflation, then any fairy tales will appear as correct logical conclusions.
Just compare over time the price of oil and beef to understand it.
Apparently the US sanctions hit Russia's trading partners as hard as they hit Russia.
But Russia had a blank check from China and all the hard pressed European countries had was a note from the US.
Then the US arranged that SA pour moar oil on the market which cut the price of a barrel of oil in half. And the Saudis gave the Europeans $1.25 discount per barrel, for good measure.
If Europe goes belly up because of the US forced sanctions on Russia, it's just another feather in Obama's dunce cap.
Anyone here really think BathHouse Barry Obongo is really involved in ANY of this stuff? the little pansy bonesmoker from the sewers of Chi-town? LOL!!! Not sure who is behind this roach, pulling the levers... but I bet the smelly gorilla Brennan knows...
.
Barry just does what he's told to do.
It so happens he has the last word.
like your wife.
PUTIN and Obama love the idea of WAR
Oil will give them this great achievement
and YOU will give your LIFE for PUTIN
Say no more and sign up for the Meat grinder
Die fighting for another Oil war...
Die Die DIE
adios assholes !
you're so dramatic.
was it a touch too much ? man, i just haven't been in the zone, lately
Either that or the bride overcooked the pot roast again.
Anyway it's finally raining here, so you can say whatever you want about Putin.
rain is a bummer
as long as there is a central bank in a country, an aggressive cancer is introduced ! it is well advised not to trust any of the leaders in those countries
My fault.
I just assumed you knew I lived in SoCal and that the lake which provides water for the 30,000 souls in our valley is a year or two away from being a mud hole.
There are so many other things wrong with the world, I don't even consider central banking in the top 10.
Central banking is really the pledge of safety for your deposits in a small bank, the way Viagra is the promise of an erection to facilitate deposits in more attractive institutions.
I am so skeptical these days, I can not shake the thought that the attack in Paris was a CIA fausse bannier. They were able to both rid the West of critical journalists and send a message to Hollande about the Mistral.
For Washington to be so opposed to copter carriers for Russia can only mean they have serious plans to subvert some elected governments with oceanfront coastlines like Syria and Venezuela.
EDIT
Just saw a photo of a million and a half people in the Place de la Republique. A crowd like that should give Hollande the cojones to complete the sale of the Mistral to Russia. No?
Hogwash, the Chicago gang doesn't think beyond who's coming to next Wednesday night hip-hop extravaganza. As for oil, I don't care who gets rolled as long as I can get my gasoline under $3.00 a gallon. Deal with it.
Newsflash: The economy is going to tank regardless whether oil is high or low...
I’m a supplier for tools and fasteners in the petrochemical sector and just in Belgium and Holland there are over 6500companies which are working and supplying to the oil sector and who depend on it.
These last 3 months have been a carnage!
Friday I was at a company that had 400 contracters in service, welders and engineers. They just told to 300 of them to go home and wait for a phonecall. Poof! And it even doesn’t show in the unemployment numbers because they’re independent contractors.
Almost all the project are stopped and all that’s still running is maintenance.
6500 companies, that means over 20000 companies who depend on them and the circle get’s bigger and bigger.
I’vd been doing the numbers here for over a month and I never realized it was so big.
And on average, most have money to keep the lights on till june.
Sudden Debt: Wait til you see what happens in Alberta. It's already starting but it's not obvious yet.
Not the first time and won't be the last time either.
Only the idiots aren't ready for a bust.
Oh quit your griping.
According to Zero Hedge when the Russian Army attacks everything will be fine!
Washington's hubris does for them. The strategies they try to project generate a range of unmanageable side effects and unintended consequences. In fact it is hard to fathom if they actually had a strategy in the first place. They seem to play the game as if there is no one else in the game. They are doing a good job of contributing to their own downfall.
Lol. The second Putin stops being a humanitarian is blowback day.
Not to mess with the kgb...
Great analysis and conclusion. Thank you.
What was left unsaid is:
" America is a desperate Empire out to no good".
All the conditions are in place for The RESET;
the rest of the world will see to that now that Presidents Putin and XI have decided to press the button.
There is hope. A New World Order is coming.
I don't want any world order. I want sound money and I want to be left alone.
Fabian socialism has always been about the doctrine of two opposing forces. This just confirms it
When I lost a business for one reason or the other I paid the piper.
I like cheap fuel.
When it is done honestly in a free market, competitive system that is fine, fair and square. When the government uses other people lives as their playthings on a chess board, that is evil
Amid falling oil prices, Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) has decided not to move forward with a proposed pipeline.
The 1,200-mile pipeline would have carried crude from the Bakken shale formation from North Dakota to Cushing, Oklahoma.
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2014/12/enterprise-cance...
The ripple effect is going to be interesting; namely, when O&G suppliers start to cut their workers, not to mention peripheral industries.
I work on a land crew that scouts out areas to lease for drilling. Most of my colleagues are now home twiddling thumbs, and this was the hottest area of TX just a few short weeks ago. No leasing means no new drilling. No new drilling means...well just follow the trickle up.
I think some idiots in Washington, had hopes of instant success of sanctions against Russia.
They hoped that the Russian people to overthrow Putin after three days from the beginning of sanctions and falling oil prices.
But they were wrong. They reached the opposite effect. Putin's approval ratings soared, and 80% of Russia's population support Putin's policies right now.
In addition, the US has lost in Russia all the achievements that they have achieved for many years. Now 80% of the population of Russia, consider America as enemy state and the aggressor. Washington lost the support of the population of Russia and now USA is enemy number one for the all Russian people.
Obama is mad that Vlad is not gay because bath house has a man crush. Barry is the worst and most expensive president in our entire history.
Is it possible for Vlad to create a New World Order without that knife-sucking, puff-lipped, splay-legged Estonian bimbo beast at his side?
Remind me again what exactly she is supposed to be in charge of in the Ukraine?
You must be a Cosmo reader along with all the other ladies.
Who up votes this shit?
Not sure... check your down votes.
Doing the math, five is probably the number of ZH bots you run from your desk in Ft Meade.
That is the most apparent bot vote I have seen on ZH. Stooge.
The take down of the price of oil and the kick in the pants for the dollar is the Zionist west's Spanish Armada.
Desperate and not enough, against a more maneuverable opponent that also has more friends.
The banksters need to repay us.
Obozo and Swift-Boat Kerry are very capable of creating their own Anti-Washington Coalitions. Putin not required. Nuff said.
The Sauds have declared war on us. Get the picture?
Drop in oil prices is temporary, next year it will be back to 100. Pelosi knows oil will recover, because she says now is the time to raise gasoline taxes.
Pelosi doesn't know $hit. Oil is gonna stay 20-50 USD for quite awhile. Peak Oil is here, that is, Peak Oil Price, not the availability.
From 140 to 40 back to 110 back to 40's. I'm guessing back to 100 when the big players are ready again.
Hundreds of trillions Wall Street derivative SHTF back in 2008. Almost seven years later it has become crystal clear to the ruling class that the only rational way to resolve the shit is to start another World War.
NATO will not be able to defeat Russia in a conventional war on the territory of Russia - in the Crimea or the Ukraine near the Russian border. NATO victory in a war against Russia - a utopia and fantasy. If now in Moscow will be a political decision, then five days later, the Russian army will be in Kiev and on the border with Poland. Russian army will not capture other cities, as it naively believed Brzezinski. They will capture only Kiev and closed all roads and communication to all the other cities. And of course they would close the borders of Ukraine.
What NATO could do? Send their soldiers to die for Ukraine? What kind of soldier - Polish, German or American?
But as NATO (this is from the word USA) can fight without air superiority?
And as NATO (this is from the word USA) can fight in the face of constant and heavy losses in manpower and equipment?
NATO does not have such opportunities.
All NATO operations - is a military-police operation, or it air strikes on objects of a weak opponent.
In a real war against a powerful enemy, the value of the army NATO (this is from the word military police) and NATO air power (this is from the word "all air targets destroyed"), is zero.
Nail on the head analysis.
How the f$ck could lower oil prices be bad? Idiots. Seriously, how stupid are you people? Why are you making something very simple so complex?
You did not notice the part about Texas going into recession. Add a few more states, perhaps a few banks have their nuts on the line and you get a wave effect of bankruptcy and insolvency. In the end Obama is waving his prick in the air and the Fed just prints some worthless asswipe they call dollars, a few cities go bankrupt, a few states are sucking wind, inflation jumps as is predicted and servicing the National debt is pipe dream, a bank holiday is declared and they grab your nuts and squeeze hard while your singing a melody in Greek, then the doctor says stick out your tongue and cough. Just maybe it will affect you and the entire nation unless your an island of one, just maybe.
Fred123 has cheap gas for his 86 Camaro, Hot Pockets, a working microwave and a 42 inch Pioneer Kuro Plasma nested inside his motorhome. He truly is a happy Island of One!
To be fair, I might be happy if I had that much and wouldn't give a shit about the functioning of the economy.
Only bad for the $550 billion in leveraged loans and junk bonds. 1/2 a trillion will leave a mark. And bad for the guys who are/were making 6 figures working in the oil patch and buying $60K pickup trucks and paying $3K a month rent for a 1 bedroom shack in no-dak.
But it is good for the minimum wage mcdonalds workers because now they can actually pay their rent
Russia's moves to decouple economy from the neoliberal monetary monopoly
These people will never wake up from their slumber, Putin is at war with zionist Jews of the west who control most of everything in this world, he de fanged the zionists in Russia and they don't like getting thrown out on their ass. The power and control they once held in Russia is gone and is never coming back according to Vlad and the Orthodox Christian Church. If you want to know what Vlads up to ask Brother Nathanael @ brovids.com he has the info, its really not rocket science at all.
oops
Alberta oil sands and the oil patch in Alberta are seeing lay offs and the Western provinces are complaining they are not going to hit revenue targets. This also affects national tax revenues in Canada and elsewhere, thing are not going well in the North.
Not much different in Alberta than the last sixty eight years.
Boom and Bust in the Patch.
No big deal if born and raised.
The drilling may slow, but the pumps still go.
Except that now the overall economy is financialized and blatantly manipulated.
I created a NWO. In my world bitchez. I cleaned my room yesterday and today already there is a conspiracy theorist in it.
clean yo' ass, son.
The dollar is dying in large part because it is dying as the reserve currency. Neo-Keynesian economics PhDs aside you can't keep piling up debt, enriching the largest banks, importing millions of unskilled aliens, and exporting manufacturing forever and expect monetary policy to do anything but make things much worse - later.
Low oil prices will hurt Russia in the short run, but it is accelerating what is otherwise inevitable. The big winner will be China, followed by Russia, Brazil, and those European nations that wise up, leave the EU, and declare independence from the Anglo-American/Zionist Banking and War Empire.
The American desire to be undisputed rule of the world, to anyone of average intelligence and aware of the basics of 20th century history, can not sensibly be described as motivated by the desire to spread democracy and freedom.
Meanwhile, Likud Israel's desire to greatly expand its borders and become a superpower in its own right ['The' superpower for those who adhere to the absurd designs of the Torah and Talmud and Jewish eschatology about global rule], and the Israel/Zionist lobby's chokehold on American foreign policy, is a major part of the story which is all but neglected for fear of offending people who, by dint of their primary loyalty to a foreign state, and their wildly disproportionate power, literally the number one danger to the Republic, closely followed by the other "realist" and "neoliberal" hyperinterventionists and warmongers.
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2014/07/the-unfolding-of-yinons-zionist-plan-fo...
NWO will be iron mixed with clay, an unstable mix
Communism/ Socialism Dictatorship
... he's simply putin on the ritz ...
They gotta charge $30 to break even in the national budget, but it costs them as low as $1 a barrel to produce.
Excellent article; it is obvious there is a lot more to the collapse in oil prices than a sudden over supply. This helps us understand more of the underlying motives.
http://suzannevince.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Mojo-Mini-Me.jpg
Trying to "out suffer" Russia is -not- a good strategy under any circumstance.
Nominate you for best comment of 2015.
I can't vote this comment up enough.
Energy, energy, energy. Is that all anyone talks about these days? What about Kim K's arse?
The good news is that Rossi's hot cat has been replicated by the Russians.
That should be enough to put the wind up Uncle (Pull-ma-finga) Sam.
http://coldfusionnow.org/russian-scientist-replicates-hot-cat-test-produ...
The killer app will be killer robots.
Why do I bother?"You can take a horse to water etc, etc."
While the whole country suffered in one way or the other the last decades, Texas always managed to get way with it, because of the republicans oil sharks like Bush and others. Now it is time for the democrats to "stick it" to the oil tycoons. If the most redneck state in America gets screwed this time, I don't see any problem with it!! Let texas pay its share this time. People can always move to other states.
Can you imagine Russia without Putin? It would be ruined. Because that corrupt system of many nations and interestes has sticked together based on coruption so that all interest sides gets its share of pie and so deal with how Russia is moving. But if Putin is no more - Russia will split just like Ottoman empire. It's a small elite regime - not a democracy where leaders can change and country will move on.
That is reality. For russian speaking people here, I recomend to view this:
http://youtu.be/aScGX_RWb20
Regarding this article:
Pain for Russia, gain for the West - the price of low oilhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/pain-for-russia-gain-...
Winners and losershttp://www.economist.com/news/international/21627642-america-and-its-fri...
Dont forget that reason for santions against Putin regime is because Russia soldiers are invading Ukraine:
http://youtu.be/IRdV8iuV0tw
U must be a US government cheerleader, paid by $$ stolen from taxpayers, or a complete idiot.
Whoops. Same thing.
Dont heed to his rabble . He is a shill living down under in his basement spouting inchorent junk on zh articles on Russia . You wont see his comments on non-russian articles on zh . He is an ignorant hasbara .
Sasha: "You wont see his comments on non-russian articles on zh . He is an ignorant hasbara ."
You have failed at so many levels:
Ron Paul: "Reality Is Now Setting In For America... It Was All Based On Lies & Ignorance"Yeah you posted your same rabid tripe on Ron paul article , the lone sane man in D.C. . No doubt why you won't . Try your old profile murican patriot . Posting same propaganda with new profiles . You're failing in your information war .
Youtube video for you apologist : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwKqNr9XL4A
It might open your dead brain .
Dude, the preferred nomenclature is "Hasbaranik".
can we imagine this forum without you.
there would be nothing to laugh about.
thank you for trolling from occupied latvia.
Again, this WH troll, trying to pass Ukrainian propaganda on Ukrainian TV channel, as the truth about Russia. LOL
That is reality. For russian speaking people here, I recomend to view this:
http://cont.ws/post/71171/
http://aftershock.su/?q=node/279271
What a silly cunt you are..
Its the money fool,,, The US us now so drowning in debt it cant afford to pay for fuck all. Except to print its shit. That is not the way to finance a war and Russia will piss all over them and anyone who doubts that China wouldn't back Russia to the hilt is an even bigger cretin.
Its all flapping lips from the gargoyles and morons on Wall Street and its noisy fucking brainless dancing monkeys in the MSM.
By the way,, what is like sucking Kenyan monkey cock.. Do you swallow when the obummer tells you to, bitch
Putin is just the scapegoat. Washington only has itself to blame for its corrupt financial policies and its disgusting foreign policies.
Cut your nose to spite your face Brobozo...
Although Mike's article is solid in its logic about oil industry influences and effects in derivative industries, and visible political moves, I believe it is flawed in one VERY large respect. What Mike seems to be trying to convince us of is that the giraffe on the table is the biggest animal by comparing to all the smaller animals on the table, while ignoring the elephant standing next to it covered by a heap of greenbacks as camoflage. Public Enemy number one is not Putin, but the Central Banking system of the world in its current configuration. The printing of worthless currency by the Fed/ECB/BOJ as a putative attempt to "oil" the economies of the world has done nothing but STEAL value from those holding current paper currency artifacts. This has led to a systemically unsustainable level of debt on the balance sheets of not only major sovereigns worldwide but also most of the world's largest corporations, and is used to disguise real growth in real industries. If the oil industry is not capable of withstanding these kinds of pricing shocks due to debts and investment malformations perhaps the faults lie more in the overcapitalization of flawed business models, and a highly inefficient energy infrastructure that needs a major competitive overhaul anyway. I can hear it now....SEARS Boardroom: "Gentlemen, the internet businesses are selling articles we stock for less, so we need to put contracts out on those internet business leaders to stop them in their tracks before we have to close our stores." That isn't capitalism, and neither is the banking system we now face globally, and the industries who have based themselves on that house of cards. As much as I liked the article for its content, I find it less than kosher to debate the prime declaration of who Public Enemy number 1 is without analyzing the more intrinsic factors to why this industry is currently struggling. "Sir, you do not persuade."