The search for a conspiracy on oil prices

Global Research:
Did the U.S. and the Saudis Conspire to Push Down Oil Prices?
This is a long piece that tries to discredit the laws of supply and demand as the main factor behind the drop in the price of oil.

To believe that the US is conspiring to hurt the Russian economy through manipulating the price of oil you have to give Obama more credit for strategic thinking than he deserves.  The fact is that he had almost nothing to do with the increased US production and to the extent that he controls drilling he is using that control to restrict it on federally controlled sites.  He is the guy who for most of his administration was saying that the US could not drill its way to lower oil prices.

The other factor is that because of the uncontrolled growth in the US supply of oil, the cartel has lost the ability to manipulate prices it had in the past.  It would only be enriching the US drillers it it restricted its own production while the companies in the US continued to increase production.

The practical results of the increased US supply has impacted oil producing states who have used their oil to finance their government.  That is mainly Iran, Russia and Venezuela.  By tying their budget to a commodity they have become controlled by the market rather than vice versa.

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