The market value of the U.S. energy sector is down almost nine per cent this year. The entire sector is now worth less than Apple. Exxon Mobil’s credit rating was just downgraded by Moody’s due to concerns of “substantial cash burn.” Fracking giant Chesapeake has shed 98 per cent of its stock value since 2008 and recently warned investors it may not be able to make scheduled payments on its crushing $10-billion debt.
The Most Revolutionary Act
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The Most Revolutionary Act 
Wondering now what Guyana’s oil will be worth when Exxon-Mobil starts producing in 2020.
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I suspect the price per gallon will remain pretty low, Rosaliene, as the global market is presently facing a glut in oil supplies. It was the collapse of oil prices that started the economic problems in Venezuela.
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I don’t think people realize the plastics industry is closely related to the oil industry, and that it includes such omnipresent substances as acrylic fiber, many building materials, and, of course, packaging. Also, I suspect demand is down, largely because world-wide consumerism is down, which translates into less shipping and travel. At least I hope that’s the case.
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A downward trend in consumerism is good… unless it isn’t. Good for the planet, certainly, but we cannot forget those losing their livelihood when it depends directly on consumerism. One good trend will undoubtedly lead to more refugees seeking survival in those societies that still seem to have crumbs to spare… No matter how we slice the global pie these days, there is no escape debts incurred against the natural environment. I wonder how many people are ready for the “new” reality as civilization is faced with problems it was never designed to have to face? Where are the refugees, the destitute, the homeless, the dispossessed, supposed to go? They won’t just curl up and die, and how will those of us who actually feel their despair, deal with our own sense of helplessness as counts of calamities rise? [Just thinking out loud, so to speak]
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Sha’Tara,
It’s amazing how little you need when you have no debt and live a relatively ascetic life. Westerners have been indoctrinated with a lot of false values and unhealthy ideas about work and consumption.
In my ideal world, for instance, there would be no jobs for lawyers, politicians, stock brokers, bankers, bureaucrats, the military, and possibly many other professions, including psychiatrists.
Jobs and money for their own sake are deadening, which is why Westerners are so unhealthy, despite the burgeoning profits in the “health care industry.”
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Yes, essentially why I say that “civilization” has to go. Institutions and professions all belong to civilization and could not exist as blood suckers without it.
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Shipping is definitely down and jobs are being shed. The global economy is contracting. I think this is why there is so much interest in a Universal Basic Income. If things continue as they are, only a minority of workers in the industrial north will be employed – as has been true for decades in the Third World.
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