charles hugh smith-The Financialized-Oil Dominoes Are Toppling.
The drop in oil revenues has triggered a self-reinforcing feedback dynamic.
Oil is not just something that is refined into fuel–it is capital, collateral, debt and risk. In other words, it is intrinsically financial. As I noted in The Oil-Drenched Black Swan, Part 2: The Financialization of Oil, oil has been financialized to the point that few outside the industry understand the dominoes that are currently toppling.
Let’s start with the obvious fact that the impact of lower oil is financial, political and geopolitical. Lower oil revenues are negatively impacting:
1. Oil-exporters’ revenues
2. Monetary policy of central banks
3. Trade flows
4. Global financial markets
Lower revenues are pressuring oil-dependent governments such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran, and destabilizing the geopolitical order as weakened oil exporters sink into recession and political turmoil.
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