The economic cataclysm brought on by the coronavirus caught American consumers in an extremely precarious position — one that was evident well before more than 50 million people filed for unemployment. By the end of last year, Americans had racked up nearly $4.2 trillion in consumer debt, not including mortgage debt — a record high.
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Then a sudden oversupply pushed prices south, until the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met in November. The US and Canada are not members of OPEC. It could have decided to wind back production to restore prices, as it had done in the past, and many experts expected it to again. But that would have been a gift to the upstarts and also to Russia, which isn’t a member. Instead it decided to destroy their business model. Maintaining production and allowing the oil price to plummet would hurt the US and Canada far more than it would hurt OPEC.
Countries damaged by falling prices are Russia,Venezuela & Nigeria. Is this as Putin says a direct economic attack on the Russian economy?
olddogthoughts 