MPIA '10 Alumni Research Cited in The Omega Letter
The Resource Curse
06/27/2011
Ed DeShields,
The Omega Letter
It was a desperate winner-takes-all gamble this week as the world released its cache of strategic oil reserves in an attempt to stave off higher oil prices. Ultimately, it may be OPEC and the oil speculators, and not the consumer, holding the winning ticket.
Releasing reserve oil wasn’t exactly a high percentage bet. Much like the down-and-out gambler betting his last buck on the Lotto, the world’s leaders decided to dump their meager emergency reserves in hopes it would stop the world’s economy from slipping into the abyss threatened by $100+ per barrel oil prices.
Cutting the strategic reserves around the world is an important decision. It tells us something about what the politicians are thinking. The convergence of macro-economic events this summer may prove to make 2011 a history-making year – in one way or another. Japan is on its back as its people realize that the Fukushima crisis is a real problem. The U.S. debt problem is far worse than imagined. The China miracle looks like a mirage. Europe is desperately holding on by its fingernails to avoid collapse, and the Middle East is consumed with a social brush fires.
Click here to read the full article.
