Europe

By now it is a well-known fact that corporations have no real way of generating organic profit growth in this economy (the recent plunge in Q1 EPS was a stark reminder of just that), so they are relying on two things to boost share prices: multiple expansion (courtesy of central banks) and debt-funded buybacks (also courtesy of central banks who keep the cost of debt record low), the latter of which requires the firm to generate excess incremental cash.

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

$50 per barrel oil is clearly less impossible to live with than $30 per barrel oil, because most businesses cannot make a profit with $30 per barrel oil. But is $50 per barrel oil helpful?

I would argue that it really is not.

When oil was over $100 per barrel, human beings in many countries were getting the benefit of most of that high oil price:

In a somewhat stunning warning, The US State Department has issued a travel warning for Europe for the next 3 months due to the risk of "potential terrorist attacks." We can only imagine what Europe's tourism ministers will have to say about this...

Via The State Department:

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

In a stark warning as to what will happen if Chancellor Angela Merkel allows Turkish citizens visa-free travel throughout Europe, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says "Contraception is Treason, Women Not Equal to Men, Muslims Must Multiply Descendants ."

Please consider Turkey’s Erdogan Warns Muslims Against Birth Control.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Muslims to reject contraception and have more children.

 

For decades, the story of Saudi Arabia recycling petrodollars, i.e., funding the US deficit by buying US Treasuries with proceeds of its crude oil sales (mostly to the US), while the US sweetened the deal by providing the Saudis with military equipment and supplies, remained entirely in the conspiracy realm, with no confirmation or official statement from the US Treasury department.