David R. Francis

A poorer OPEC no longer spreads its wealth

In the bad old days of an oil embargo and gasoline lines, Americans at least got billions of petrodollars back from the oil-rich Middle East.

That money got recycled into the United States, mostly in safe bank deposits. The banks then invested it at great risk in Latin America and elsewhere.

So this time as gasoline prices soar again…some Americans may be expecting another influx of Mideast cash. They shouldn’t. The petrodollar is losing its international clout.

March 24, 2005

The Mideast ‘bomb’ no one talks about

In a few decades, many OPEC nations in the Middle East will have such large populations that they could end up consuming much or all of the energy they now export, suggests Matthew Simmons, an oil consultant in Houston.

November 3, 2004

Update on an old warning: Beware the coming shortages

Dennis Meadows warned 32 years ago that the world would run short of resources within a century, putting the planet at risk of expanding hunger as well as economic and social disaster. Today, that danger is more imminent, says Mr. Meadows, one of the authors of “The Limits to Growth,” a book published in 1972 and now just updated.

October 27, 2004

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