Flashback: To Hurt Putin (Over The Ukraine), Push The Price Of Oil To $60 -- December 25, 2014

I linked this story back on May 15, 2014 (note the date of the linked article and the linked post, May 14/15, 2014):

There is, however, another approach that would undermine Russia's (and like-minded oil autocracies') efforts at regional domination while strengthening Western economies. Russia's geopolitical influence in Europe derives in part from its hand on the natural-gas tap, but its Achilles' heel is the price of oil.

A successful effort to drive the price of oil down to, say, $60 a barrel—far below the $117 per barrel that Russia requires to balance its national budget—would benefit the West, as well as China and India. Neither of the latter two countries, on the other hand, is likely to cooperate with sanctioning major energy exporters. How can we reduce prices when the bulk of the world's low-marginal-cost oil supplies are held by the OPEC cartel, which has not increased production in 40 years? By opening the door to arbitrage among different energy commodities in the market for transportation fuel.

For the record, I was "way wrong" suggesting that the proposal to drive down the price of oil, "to, say, $60 a barrel" was ludicrous, DOA (dead on arrival). That's where we are now (by the way, there is an op-ed out there somewhere that I read, but did not link) suggesting exactly this: that the US (under Mr Obama's direction) and Saudi Arabia are/were in cahoots to drive down the price of oil to $60 to severely hurt Mr Putin. I don't buy into that (that the US and Saudi Arabia were in cahoots, but I don't doubt for a moment that Saudi had its eyes on Russia as much as its OPEC colleagues ...

It looks like the author's proposal for getting oil to $60/bbl was too complicated; Saudi Arabia managed to do it by "doing nothing."

There is another op-ed out that that I did link -- from The New York Times -- linked early this morning, sent to me by a reader late last night -- also saying exactly this: that $60 oil is a huge "win" for the US, and a huge "loss" for foreign producers (if you disagree, ask Venezuela).

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A Note to the Granddaughters

This was one of the best Christmases I have had in awhile -- we are back in southern California; our granddaughters are skiing in Colorado with their mom and dad; our younger daughter and her husband are with us in southern California; and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner with one long-time friend, and my wife's brother/sister-in-law.

Along the way, a most incredible gift for my wife which I will blog about separately later; it's in draft now and I'm simply too tired to finish it and post it.

For me, several DVDs of classic movies and four wonderful books, three of which were on my Christmas list and one book a complete, and pleasant surprise:

• The Innovators: How A Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created The Digital Revolution, Walter Isaacson, c. 2014, Christmas gift
• Captain Gray In The Pacific Northwest: Captain Gray's Voyages of Discovery, 1787 - 1793, Francis E. Cross and Charles M. Parkin, Jr., c. 1987, Christmas gift
• Henry Neville and the Shakespeare Code, Brenda James, c. 2008, Christmas gift
• Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Bryon's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age, James Essinger, c. 2014, Christmas gift