I think OPEC have realized just a little bit of what their consumers have experienced... a steep decline in monetary value.

Consumers have had their gas/energy prices spike incredibly high leaving their pockets drier... and OPEC has had their oil devalued by about %50 of where it peaked.

Although, products never go down for the consumer as fast as oil prices do... and while there's that convenience  excuse about the delay in pricing due to the refining process... they forget that part when the wind blows a little and they jack the price of oil again.

All of this financial crumbling is creating panic (of course) and panic is not causing any positive results.

One thing that I've been thinking for quite some time is that all of these huge Corps have forgotten some simple principles that people like Henry Ford seemed to understand.

That you're growth really has to be in sync with the consumers of your product. Otherwise, you ain't selling cause no one's buyin'.

And in this global market, to have balance, there has to be syncronicity amongst growth as a whole.... and there has to be such a thing as reasonable growth or healthy growth when speaking of profit margin.

But.... i'm just some guy who's told you his $0.02... not some high roller who just gambled billions and lost them in "investments". So what do I know....

Here's the International Herald Tribune article on OPEC.