Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Two-front war
Some booms happen without government participation, and others are created or enabled by subsidies or price controls. The shale boom is in the latter category, though it wasn't obvious until this month. OPEC had been holding oil prices high for so long that we forgot it was an artificial control. This month the price floor was yanked away, allowing supply and demand to roar back into control.
Clearly the yanking was intended to hurt specific targets.
Russia first, because Russia was sinning against Goldman in every possible way. Russia has been trying to decentralize the world by (re)developing a separate trading and currency zone that doesn't depend on Goldman. Russia has been making a strong point of natural-law culture.
Persia second, for the same reasons.
Within the US, the states that have been bubbling with shale are mainly frugal and traditional. Alaska, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas. The first two are governed in classic cold-people style. Live with massive reserves, don't borrow. Highly offensive to Goldman. The other states are not as strong in the frugal category but stronger in the traditional category. Look at a list of states where Goldman's "Federal court" subsidiary has been smashing civilization most actively, and you'll find a lot of shale.
Labels: Natural law = Sharia law
¶ 5:10 AM
