Oil prices could ruin us yet

It strikes some on the outside looking in that the normal operations of the oil market are not only manipulated by speculators but all too brazenly by the producer nations as well.

Many of them formed the oil cartel OPEC that effectively has curtailed production to offset reduced demand, helping to sustain a high price for its commodity that even before the epic bubble set new records as it broke through one barrier after another.
The likes of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Russia, Iran and Venezuela revel in revenues that feed not merely their domestic welfare but also their worldly ambitions. At $40 or $50 a barrel, those ambitions would have to be mitigated.

Russian ambition is to restore its hegemony over the states of the former Soviet Union. For Saudi Arabia, it is to maintain its position as the financier of the Arab and Muslim nations, including directly or indirectly feeding Islamists.

Iran wants to reign over neighborhood and Venezuela seeks to impose its socialist, authoritarian regimen in Latin America.

Given all this, it is — or should be — clearer than ever that if the U.S. and other nations can reduce their reliance on oil and develop other sources of energy, then much more than their pocket books would profit.

Times Union