Boy, that bailout bill really helped, didn't it? The Dow is now below 10,000 at the time of this writing. The rest of the world isn't faring much better.
But don't they say that every cloud has a silver lining, or it is an ill wind that blows no good?
Well, falling oil prices would be the little ray of sunshine in our black cloud of falling stocks.
Oil prices fall below $90 amid financial crisis worries:
Oil prices briefly fell to an eight-month low
below $90 a barrel Monday on speculation that the spreading financial
crisis will exacerbate a global economic slowdown and cut demand for
crude oil.
Significant gains by the U.S. dollar against the euro also contributed to slumping oil prices.
By midafternoon in Europe, light, sweet crude
for November delivery was down $2.68 to $91.20 a barrel in electronic
trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session,
the price fell as low as $88.89 a barrel.
Oil prices have tumbled nearly 40% since peaking in July. The Nymex front-month contract last traded this low in early February.
At least lower oil prices will help Americans with heating costs* and filling their gas tanks. That is the only good thing I can say about the falling markets right now.
But, since we are so dependent on middle east oil, don't expect this downward trend to continue back to "good ole days" prices. After all, they do control the supply side of supply and demand. More from USAToday,
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossien Nozari said
Saturday that it would be "unsuitable" for both producers and consumers
for oil to dip below $100 a barrel. He called on fellow OPEC members
not to pump too much oil and avoid a drop in prices.
"OPEC has signaled it may defend $80," Shum said. "There's uncertainty over what OPEC may do."
Need another reason to drill domestically and adopt an "All of the Above"** energy policy? Our economy would not be in the mess it is right now if we had adopted it years ago.
*Most will not benefit this winter from falling oil prices when it comes to heating. JSOnline: Government warns of sharp increase in winter heating costs, especially for homes using oil
**I do not favor all of the All of the Above. So far, solar, wind, and ethanol are just too expensive and inefficient to be practical.
Please, comment content should relate to the subject of the post. Although I try to respond to many, do not interpret my lack of a response as agreement.
Links:
Brookfield7, Fairly Conservative, Betterbrookfield, Jay Weber, Mark Levin, Vicki Mckenna 
