Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan
“According to Economics 101, excess demand should cause ‘real’ prices to increase, while
excess supply should cause them to fall. In line with this logic, we divided the period between
1960 and 2013 into four sub-periods, depending on whether the ‘real’ price of oil was heading
up or down. In two of the periods – 1970-1980 and 1998-2003, which we shade for easy
identification – prices trended upward, while in the other two – 1961-1970 and 1980-1998 – they
moved downward. Now, for the theory to be valid, periods of falling prices should be associated
with excess supply (i.e., with inventory build-ups indicated by negative readings for the series);
similarly, periods of rising prices should be associated with excess demand (inventory depletion,
or positive readings”).
Still about oil? pp.53
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan https://rwer.wordpress.com/comments-on-rwer-issue-no-70/
Every dollar of ExxonMobil profit is impregnated with these power relations – and nothing but
these power relations – and the same holds true for every other corporation (and, indeed, for
every income-earning entity). And since differential corporate profits quantify relative corporate
power, the differential market value of corporations – which discounts expected profits into
present asset prices – is in fact nothing but the capitalization of power.
Now, in order to sustain and augment their relative profit and capitalization, corporations need to
engage in strategic sabotage: they must subvert their opponents as well as society as a whole.8
They have to keep their rivals at bay, undermine their initiative and thwart their thrust. More
broadly, they need to hold society below its full potential, to redirect its activities so that these
activities amplify their own distributive share. To achieve their differential goals, corporations are
compelled to manipulate threats and leverage violence, to undermine resonance and inflict
dissonance, to restrict autonomy and exact obedience. In this sense, their capital is power, and
nothing but power. Its differential accumulation symbolizes the ability of the capitalists who own
it and the state organs that support it to creorder – or create the order of – the world in their own
capitalized image.
Still about oil? pp.56
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan https://rwer.wordpress.com/comments-on-rwer-issue-no-70/
46 Most analyses of this decline seem to replicate the explanations of the sharp price rise of the 1970s –
only in reverse (see footnote 25). Some, like Daniel Yergin (2014), swear by the ‘old-fashioned forces of
supply and demand’, stating that while ‘there may be surplus of geopolitical risk in the world, there is an
even greater surplus of oil’. Others, such as Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s foreign minister and the former
head of state oil company PDVSA, focus on geopolitics. The recent drops, he argues, occurred ‘not due to
market fundamentals, but to price manipulation to create economic problems among major producing
countries’ (Rathbone, Rodrigues, and Schipani 2014). The main culprit is Saudi Arabia. According to this
view, the Saudis, possibly with a nod from the United States, have orchestrated a ‘new oil-price war’. One
effect of this price war is to clip the wings of U.S. shale-oil firms whose booming production challenges the
Saudis’ primacy. Naturally, this impact doesn’t make Washington happy. But according to proponents of
this argument, that is a small price to pay in exchange for the havoc inflicted by lower oil prices on
America’s current enemies – namely Russia, Iran and Venezuela – and for having the world economy
stimulated by a lower ‘oil tax’ (Dyer and Crooks 2014; Lucas and McLannahan 2014). Astute
commentators are careful to note the deflationary impact of lower oil prices, but this ‘mixed blessing’ rarely
makes it to the front page.
This article has two main goals. The first is to demonstrate the large extent to which the global financial system determines national and regional reality in people’s lives and security, including in the USA itself and in theWestern world in general, with an emphasis on the two main post-World-War-II transformations, which were initiated in 1971, following the cancellation of the Bretton Woods agreement, and in1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
There is an interview in Counterpunch by Colin Todhunter ( A regular writer at Global Research International) about the paper, the interview does not do the paper justice.
My own blog yesterday and our discussion over the past few days and since the General election of 2019 are deeply embedded in the broad themes so well explained by Prof. Rancourt at the above linked paper,his Activist Teacher Blog is very good.LINKS to Denis Rancourt articles and interviews about COVID-19 and face masks
http://activistteacher.blogspot.com/2020/07/links-to-denis-rancourt-articles-and.html
Dennis Ranacourt on Bitchute
Dennis isn’t as widely known as many Internet commentators his output is though still prolific. I think the harder to find prolific “Content Providers” are in many respects where the difficult questions are being asked and answered. There really isn’t that much left to discuss on Covid. The opportunistic or planned deaths of old people should be investigated. The fact the Jabs don’t work and carry greater risks than benefits for most being mandated to take them, should also be investigated and where wilful negligence or malice is proven at law, The appropriate legal redress should be handed down from the courts.
Meanwhile, the referee’s whistle has not been blown and we must play on, TPTB are playing on as we see with Klaus’s great new narrative, which is spoken to in the second part of Dennis’s Paper above. I.E the religiosity of Narrative control of Public Opinion.Truth in intensive care.
Bromides as Allogeries of Suppressed Self Interest. #Sraffa, #Wittgenstein, and #Gramsci
13 thoughts on “Still About Oil . ‘Weapondollar-Petrodollar Coalition’ . Differential Accumulation, When Big Energy and Big Data Collide.”