[opec] why plead – why not pressure

Can’t believe Sam Bodman, the US Energy Secretary, pleading with a cartel. Even though it’s known by all and sundry that the west is in this and other cartels’ pockets, still, it doesn’t do to be seen to be in the pockets. Opec’s price went from $72 to $54 and so Saudi and others wish to up the anti by reducing production by 27.8 million barrels. If things continued as they have, Brent crude would fall below $50 per barrel by the third quarter of next year. So what? That would be a neat gain for the motorist and for industry, so why aren’t the G8, for example exerting enormous pressure behind the scenes on Opec and other cartels? It’s the law of the jungle – refuse to buy and they’d soon cave. But it will never happen because there’s a] no spine in the current G8 governments and b] the cartel boards and administrations are interwoven anyway.