US Oil Production And OPEC

This would be very wrong :there is no place for a democratic country in the ME (excepted Israel):democratization of SA would mean clearing the way for Isis;besides : it is not our business if there were beheadings in SA,I should even say it is a good thing:it means that the regme of SA has the intention to preserve law and order and to prevent the arrival of Isis .

 

Better the devil you know then the devil you don't. Keeping Saudi Arabia strong is in our best interest, Saudi Arabia losing oil revenue and thus the finances to back up their armed forces could lead to a domino effect. Better to have the devil keep some semblance of order then let anarchy reign and allow the Islamic state to do as they please.

As to ethanol and engines, While not a mechanic friends are and i can say for a fact that it absolutely buggers them up.

 

I must agree....culture!! the cultures are different....would it be nice to have democracy there? of course, but look what happens in a lot of places when the ''rulers'' leave?? civil war/etc

 

One cant force a nation to change it's ways, But what one can do is slowly coax it. Trying and make something from the get go happen and they will resist, Take your time and before they even realize it they have changed.

Need to play the long game.

 

FDR put the screws on Japan with "economic warfare" and it didn't turn out too well, the risk here is that the low prices will push Putin to try "something drastic" like the 1941 embargo pushed Tojo to war.

To me the OPEC move looks like it's motivated by both economic and political objectives, they are sacrificing some profits they do not need in order to;
- drive the frackers out of the market before they become "too big to fail" , companies cannot work at a loss for long and it will be years before any investors will try again if the current bunch loose big.
- low oil prices should help economic recovery and so increase the values of the substantial foreign investments they already have. They were probably losing more money due to depression induced asset depreciation than they were making from oil (and what's the use of more money when there's nowhere to invest it anyway ?). .
- low oil prices will make borderline black market operations, that is all that ISIS and other extremists with only partial control can do for now, non viable so cutting funding to those organisations that pose the biggest threat to them.
- hurting Putin's Russia, another competitor with higher extraction cost, is probably not a big advantage for the oil sheiks, considering the associated risks but they certainly have no love for the man.
- China, who is a huge oil importer, will obviously benefit from low prices and become even more competitive against western manufacturing.
- Nigeria and Venezuela will also hurt, but I don't think they are anywhere on the sheiks's agenda.

All considered a pretty bold move on their part. For the world at large it could a good thing ut there are a huge amount of variables in play. As to what it will do to their relationships with the US I thing they rely on money counting more than "declarations of friendship" there, and that's not a bad bet.

 

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/execution-list-2014

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/execution-list-2015

That's a lot of lethal injections since 1st Jan 2014.

Perhaps we should demand democratic countries not buy US goods?

As much as I dislike the death penalty, I'm not finding a strong argument between a country's willingness to implement the death penalty and a wider moral obligation to avoid economic activity.

Although I agree that Saudi Arabia is a country with serious problems, but it is also a key country in the Middle East, and its rulers are a very different set of people, than what you would get if ISIS or Wahhabi's took over, which is a distinct likelihood should the current rulers be thrown out. Given the pro-Western slant of the ruling Elite, any fundamental change would only be for the worse for the Western Hemisphere.

 

Sooo...what happens when the oil runs out? Or we change to electric...'pro western slant' would have to be about money wouldn't it?

 

What US goods ? Not much too find what is worth purchasing anyway. Except some computer stuff (not APPLE lol I don´t like Apple) but which is build in SEA anyway.... otherwise Hollywood & MC Donalds/BurgerK (wich I avoid like a plague) We don´t have much US goods here, we the Europeans can supply and build our stuff better anyway (even weapons now lol)


@ Tired Old Soldier: Chapeu, I am d ácord. You know your economic stuff it seems Other oil producing countries are already running in trouble, not only Russia, the US,too. They laid off a lot of workers already... the link above I posted, agress with your analysis.

 

Oil won´t run out in our livetime I bet We have reached the peak already but there is still more than enough for a while. Maybe the so called "rare earth" will run out first or even silver.

 

Stop kidding yourself.

The EU imports goods and services from the US in excess of 250 Billion USD per year, or 500 USD per head of population. That's each geriatric, newborn, man, woman, and transgender person living in the EU.

 

Maybe I won´t buy them as far as possible.

 

I'm sure USTR's Michael Froman is trembling in his boots at your statement.

T-Tip will be banging on your door sooner than you might like.

 

Well I live/lived in 2 countries: Netherlands / Germany and US goods play almost no role there means in the public... except aircraft maybe. And no one misses them. I visited France and Belgium recently, England, Spain in the past and it seems to be the same there.

 

Two! Goodness gracious me! Such a globe trotter! A real man-about-town!

The five largest country markets for US exports were: Germany ($47.4 billion), United Kingdom ($47.4 billion), Netherlands ($42.7 billion), France ($32.0 billion), and Belgium ($31.7 billion).

Let's see about US goods:

The top export categories (2-digit HS) in 2013 were: Aircraft ($31.1 billion), Machinery ($29.9 billion), Mineral Fuel (oil) ($25.7 billion), Optic and Medical Instruments ($25.4 billion), and Pharmaceutical Products ($20.1 billion)

So while you might pretend to not notice in the Netherlands or Germany any General Motors/Ford vehicles, nor Coca Cola company products, nor Oracle databases, nor Microsoft software, nor iPads, iPhones (and of course, you aren't using google, or gmail) but someone might might notice a lack of Medical instruments and pharmaceutical products when their family members are suddenly taken seriously ill / injured.

Lufthansa has been having enough difficulties without burdening them further with an ageing Boeing fleet for which they couldn't access spare parts.

Good luck in your non-blind obstinancy...

 

I already said aircraft and computer stuff is an exception (use you glasses?) or just say to me "your English is too bad I can´t read it", than I will stop posting in English forums at all. Easy.


http://www.bloomberg.com/video/u-s-trade-deficit-widens-jobless-claims-rise-GL5z8tWYRGOUAjBgIQsaLw.html/

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. initial jobless claims increased 16,000 in the period ended March 29 to a five-week high of 326,000, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Separately, the trade gap widened by 7.7 percent to $42.3 billion, the biggest since September, from the prior month’s $39.3 billion, Commerce Department figures showed. Michael McKee reports on Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers." (Source: Bloomberg)



Also be lucky with your coke and burgers, I avoid ém. And you don´t like people that travel a bit around, it sounds a bit like your making jokes about me for this ? Might be missunderstanding tho.

 

Perhaps you like to insult people that use glasses?


No, you said "some computer stuff", but without actually seeming to understand how far IT extends into modern society, then in another post, you made a separate, distinct exception for aircraft, without actually seeming to understand the number of affected aircraft owned by Lufthansa and KLM, and the spare parts thereof, making an off-hand remark that "nobody would miss them...", about which you'd be sadly mistaken.

You'd probably be quite horrified to learn how much consumer products are actually owned by the Coca Cola company (which goes well beyond Coke).

Further, agricultural products from the US far exceeds any fast food: U.S. exports of agricultural products to EU countries totaled $11.9 billion in 2013. The EU countries together would rank 5th as an Ag Export Market for the United States. Leading categories include: tree nuts ($2.3 billion), soybeans ($1.5 billion), soybean meal ($860 million), wine and beer ($649 million), and prepared food ($492 million).


By all means, threaten to leave. No skin off my nose. If you wish to engage in meaningful debate, you have to be willing to have your ideas and opinions challenged, otherwise, it hardly matters what language the debate is in.

Lastly, they are not "my" coke and burgers at all.

Good luck with Mayonnaise on your French Fries.

 

French fries aren´t even French

Nope I need to wear glasses myself if on the PC screen, I like joking about myself, yup.

And thanks for the info, maybe I was missinformed.

Btw: I am kind of IT guy btw. so I know where most hardware is build (eastern europe & asia even if some of the companies are US based)

 

Manufacturing is a trivial event. The design is done in the US, and the profits go to the US.

 

Based on recent talk's from OPEC members Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri thinks that the prices have already bottomed out and may actually start working it's way up to $200 a barrel (In which case buy shares in oil stocks but sell out of all airlines) while a couple other members thinks it may bottom out at $30 - $35 a barrel.

For us Aussies fingers crossed that the Coober Peddy field is viable and big. For those not knowing about it its a tight oil find with the lowest estimate being 3 billion barrels but the highest estimate stated by the company drilling it of 223 billion barrels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5VZMono0s0, Though according to Kent Moore it may be as big as 400 billion barrels. (Buy shares in Linc Energy, They own 80% of the basin the oil is in.)