Well oil be. Price fixing on an international scale.

[canta_brian]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52264546

Why is this OK? Any other industry would be being investigated by authorities and fined.

[Digby]

In fairness the banks were let off for the Libor scam, and more generally markets are allowed to be manipulated for the benefit of established companies and not the market

[Sandydragon]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52264546

Why is this OK? Any other industry would be being investigated by authorities and fined.

Investigated by who? They are nation states operating together to fix a commodity price, no one can do much about it other than not buy their product.

[Digby]

Broadly higher oil prices are good, it helps encourage renewables

[Puja]

The thing that I found most entertaining/horrifying about it is the Orange One boasting about how he'd agreed to reduce US oil output and this had saved American oil jobs from being lost. Granted, he only has a fragile relationship with facts at the best of times, but I still find it incredible that he can do something which increases unemployment and brazenly claim that it's reduced it.

Broadly higher oil prices are good, it helps encourage renewables

Good point. A production cap also leaves more fossil fuels in the ground, extending the period of time before climate disaster kills us all.

Puja

[Digby]

Bad news is the people with the cash to buy successful emerging green firms are the oil companies, god only knows how many startups they've bought and killed off at this point. I'd like to know what Trump means by the USA will get a pay off for this down the line, as on the face of it the USA is cutting more to help out the likes of Mexico and Russia. And of course the other big thing to wonder about is will Russia pay even the slightest bit of attention, they've agreed these cuts before and then just tried to carry on supplying at a higher price

[morepork]

I doubt very much that the toddler in chief was directly involved in these negotiations given he does not know his arse from hie elbow.