And with the formation of the merchant class came also the development of metallic money, the minted coin, a new instrument for the domination of the non-producer over the producer and his production.

America is the world's largest producer of nuclear energy, but has not approved a single new plant since a scary (but non-lethal) nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in 1979.

In the short-run, market participants will focus on both Opec and perhaps even non-Opec producer responses to balance the market.