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If oil drops to $20 a barrel, that should pretty much put all the fracking, tar sands and deep sea oil rackets out of business. At $20 a barrel, they can’t cover their costs.
Source – davidstockmanscontracorner.com
– The world’s leading oil producers are preparing for the possibility of oil prices halving to $20 a barrel after a second day of financial market turmoil saw a fresh slide in crude, the lowest iron ore prices in a decade, and losses on global stock markets.
Benchmark Brent crude briefly dipped below $40 a barrel for the first time since February 2009 before speculators took profits on the 8% drop in the cost of crude since last week’s abortive attempt by the oil cartel Opec to steady the market.
But warnings by commodity analysts that the respite could be shortlived were underlined when Russia said it would need to make additional budget cuts if the oil price halved over the coming months.
Alexei Moiseev, Russia’s deputy finance minister, told Reuters: “If oil goes to $20, we will need to do additional [spending] cuts. Clearly we have…
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The Most Revolutionary Act 
To be honest i’m not happy to see price of oil plummet along with the value of Canadian dollar as we live in Thailand but supported with Canadian Gov. Pensions. Luckily we have a nice house and car paid for and really can’t complain but i’m sure others with monthly payments our suffering.
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I have had similar problems in New Zealand when the US dollar drops, as do several of my friends with British pensions.
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What is really perplexing to me is the high value of American dollar, in times of trouble people rush to US$ for safety, the opposite should be the case
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Falling oil prices also seem to be putting Venezuela out of business. Maybe that’s part of the ploy? As Ron Mamita points out on his blog, the whole world is obliged to use the Yankee dollar for trade. Tell me why?
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Gerry (and Alan), it’s my understanding that it used to be that the only way to buy oil was in US dollars – Middle East countries were forced to sell oil in dollars, or the CIA would overthrow or assassinate their leaders (as in Iraq for example). This forced all countries that were dependent on foreign oil to oil large amounts of US dollars in reserve.
At present Iran is willing to sell oil in other currencies and this is the real reason the neocons want to declare war on them.
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Cold War, Currency War…
The media dance around the truth, it is world war!
The IMF forgives Ukraine’s debt to Russia.
What will Russia do?
For that matter, what will China and other BRICS countries do?
The IMF and U.S. neocons have sent the world a message.
What must Greece feel, as they face debt default austerity, why the exception for Ukraine?
Oh, we know it is because a WAR is being waged and you don’t argue with the person holding a gun to your head.
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Interesting link, Ron. Did you hear the news overnight that Christine Lagarde is to stand trial: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35121022
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She has been under investigation for a long time, but I have not searched for the latest.
Thank you for the link and considerately sharing it with me!
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There is a stark contrast between the scandals during the tenure of Lagarde as IMF Chief, and how she was lauded by the press (e.g., her interview on 60 minutes). One has to wonder if being professionally incompetent and compromised is a prerequisite for heading an institution like the World Bank, IMF, etc. Recent politicization of the IMF in changing protocol by lending to the Ukraine during war time, and, more recently, lending to the Ukraine after their $3 billion breach/default to Russia is disturbing. The U.S. seems to be able to get all of the people who count to do the goose step in lock step:
http://michael-hudson.com/2015/12/the-imf-forgives-ukraines-loan-to-russia/
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Hi Stuart, maybe you’d like to have a look at the above link. I reckon what Lew Bornmann writes is very interesting!
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Excellent analysis, Aunty. Nice find. Thanks for sharing.
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You make some excellent points, PeaceFrog. I think you may be right – that the ruling elite deliberately puts compromised people into positions of power because they’re easier to blackmail and control.
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That all may be well and true OR those people are the only type of people that will take the position. When was the last time you saw a decent person even search for the job?
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Good point, Tube. I guess it all boils down to the question whether it’s possible to become obscenely rich without breaking the law. Perhaps not.
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