The scientific editors of Selecting Stones harshly admonish OPEC for the foolhardy decision last Thursday not to cut oil production. In particular, we lay our scorn on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and on Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s current Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
Of course, we understand why the Saudis took the charge in refusing to lower OPEC’s production of crude. They can afford to sell oil at a low price for a short amount of time if in the intermediate to long term it means less competition from North American shale oil.
But the scientific editors of Selecting Stones don’t really give a shit about any of that. All we care about is the health of the quasi-socialist Venezuelan welfare state, and alas, the Bolivarian Republic’s budget deficit is in big trouble with crude trading at $70 a barrel. Yesterday, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announced a 20% reduction in government spending in response to the situation.
Sadly, the man on the right holds a great deal of control over the ultimate fate of Chavismo.
So, the winners of OPEC’s move last week are: a) the Saudi monarchy, b) the American consumer, and c) possibly Henrique Capriles.
And that’s just terrible news all around.
