Saturday, June 7, 2008

Alarm at Oil Price

Alarm, alarm, sound the alarm! Wall Street tumbled nearly 400 points on Friday due to a pair of alarming economic news: the biggest gain in the U.S government's unemployment in more than 20 years and a Morgan Stanley analyst's forecast of $150 oil by July 4. In case anyone doesn’t know, July 4 is less than a month from now!

Remember when no one thought oil will break above $100? Those were the good old days. Oil at $150 per barrel is going to hurt everyone, not just the Americans. Malaysia will have to increase prices even more if oil keeps going up. Even Singapore will be affected. As the price of oil goes up, people will start to use less of it. That means less work for the oil refineries which is still the lifeblood of the Singapore economy. Just imagine if the price go up to $200 per barrel!

Singapore is not helped by our Israeli ally. The Israeli are quoted as saying Israel would attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program. For all our sake, I hope this is the last time we hear this. The last thing the world needs is yet another war in the Middle East.

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