How Saudi Arabia Overplayed Its Hand -- New York Times -- March 12, 2016

The way this New York Times article is written I cannot summarize it easily. All I will post right now is this:

And then there is Saudi Arabia itself.

All the evidence suggests that Saudi officials never expected oil prices to fall below $60 a barrel. But then they never expected to lose their sway as the swing producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Despite wishful statements from Saudi ministers, the kingdom’s efforts last month to make a deal with Russia, Venezuela and Qatar to restrict supply and push up prices collapsed.

We've talked about this several times. 

$40-oil is of no help to Saudi Arabia but is a lifeline for the US shale oil industry.

$50-oil is of no help to Saudi Arabia -- when they need $100-oil - but it may be enough to "save" the US shale oil industry.

$60-oil will only slow Saudi's hemorrhaging of cash, but Saudi needs $100-oil, they say. They may get by on $85-oil but .... 

As I said to the reader who sent me this New York Times story: 

Saudi Arabia (and Obama in other arenas) will have caused more human suffering than anything we've seen outside of the major wars (WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War) in the last 120 years.

Outside of Russia, Saudi, and the US, the rest of the oil-producing countries that set their budget on the price of oil, are basket cases.

****************************

More Snow For The Kennedy Grandkids

The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

Several feet of new snow is expected in the Sierra Nevada mountains this weekend as another El Niño-influenced storm moves into Northern California.

In what some are calling a "March Miracle," the Sierra have been hit by a series of powerful storms this month. That's important because the Sierra snowpack is a key source of water for California, which is in its fourth year of a drought.

ADVERTISING

The storms have boosted the snowpack and replenished reservoirs. 

Heavy showers pummeled L.A. and Ventura counties Friday afternoon, and forecasters said there was a chance of some light rain in some areas of Southern California through the weekend.