Will They Be Kicking Us When We’re Down?
Topsy-turvy financial markets. Bank bailouts, industry bailouts and at least one nation ⎯ Iceland ⎯ on the verge of national bankruptcy. We’re all caught in the middle, watching prices rise on everything from groceries and gas to common petroleum-based household products. Amidst all the turmoil, there was, of late, one small silver lining since July’s record-high oil prices ⎯ crude oil dipped to $78 a barrel today, offering drivers some relief at the pumps. That price is 41% off the July record high of $147 a barrel.
As the recession appears more global than local, most of us have made abrupt lifestyle changes in response to high prices and the uncertainties raised by the global liquidity crisis.
OPEC members announced they would meet November 18 to discuss cutting output. The oil cartel’s president, Chakib Khelil, said OPEC was “very likely” to cut oil production, Bloomberg reported. Most members of the cartel want to see prices remain in the $80 to $100 a barrel range. Iran and Venezuela, it’s been said, would like to see production cuts so as to raise prices while Saudi Arabia has resisted doing so. OPEC controls about 40% of the world’s oil output.
So, come November, will they be kicking us when we’re down?
One has to wonder what Henry Ford would think if he were around today. When it was introduced on October 1, 1908, the Model T was affordable ($825) and was soon mass-produced; Americans weren’t just buying an automobile, they were buying freedom and independence. Today, the gas-powered, internal combustion engine may be approaching the end of its useful life, and continued dependence on oil to run our cars, and much of our country, seems more like a ball-and-chain than freedom.
What does energy independence mean to you?
