Cheap oil just keeps on coming thumbnail The stunning plunge in oil prices – almost 45% since June – has roiled the global oil markets; creating new winners and losers almost overnight. It has also unlocked a number of potential problems and opportunities we would be wise to consider. In our consumer-based economy, savings at the gas pump provide a direct stimulus to the economy – freeing up a reservoir of new discretionary dollars to fuel the economy. Indeed, SUV and small truck sales are skyrocketing (How soon we forget how quickly gas prices can go up) and fuel-intensive sectors – like airlines – are enjoying record profits. For others, falling oil prices are not so good. Geopolitically, it has been a disaster for oil-exporting countries; Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others are all getting clobbered. Shale oil producers – with fracking and horizontal drilling costs that far exceed OPEC’s […]