Saudis change their tune

When the price of oil on the world market goes below around $50.00 a barrell, it becomes a losing proposition to pump it. In other words, it costs more to obtain the oil and ship it than it can be sold for. Back in 2008, Vice President Cheney tried to convince the Saudis to increase production enough to severely decrease the price of oil on the world market. The objective was two-fold: 1) to bring down the high prices Americans were paying for oil at the time and 2) to squeeze the economy of Iran enough that the people would rise up against the government. At the time it seemed to me like a brilliant strategy, but apparently the Saudis were not willing to accept the losses in revenue.

Today things seem to be different. In the midst of rapidly decreasing oil prices, one would think the Saudis would lower production to try to nudge the price back up. But no, they have just announced they will not decrease production. Could it be that they now see an opportunity to cripple the Iranian economy? That's what the Iranians are saying. They are calling this a "conspiracy against the region, the Muslim people and the Muslim world" (AP story today). I hope they're right.