Richard Ha writes:
From a 40,000-foot view, a declining oil price is good for the U.S. and Hawai‘i in the short run because it gives us time to adapt.
A lower oil price makes oil-exporting countries vulnerable if they cannot maintain their domestic budgets and take care of their people in the manner in which they have become accustomed.
Financial reserves of oil-producing countries vulnerable to depletion
A specialized economist said that the financial reserves and surpluses of oil-producing countries are vulnerable to depletion in the event of continuing decline of global oil prices and with the pace of public spending remaining around the current high levels.
Professor of economics at the College of Administrative Sciences, Kuwait University, Dr. Mohammed Al-Saqqa said in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Sunday that the economies of oil-producing countries (including Kuwait) are facing a real challenge represented in the growth of public spending without “control” to high levels amid the decline witnessed in oil prices in global markets approaching the level of USD 80 per barrel (bd).
The world works on net energy plus technology to extend that net energy. When that net energy starts to decline, there are going to be winners and losers.
The GMO debate going on all around us is a big distraction from the real danger, which is declining net energy!