I'm Walkin', Down the Street...

I just read that crude oil per barrel today hit below $70 for the first time in 14 months. As Wall Street Journal writes:

The sharp drop in U.S. oil demand -- down in recent weeks by about 9% from a year ago -- shows how deep the economic malaise is across much of the industrialized world now. As the U.S. unemployment rate rises and retail sales and manufacturing orders slump, the world's largest consumer of oil needs less crude to move goods, fly passenger jets, and transport workers to the office.

About 2 months ago, I started to walk to work. Now, before everyone jumps on my case, I have to admit that I live about 1 mile from work. It takes me 20 minutes to walk one way. Why I didn't walk before, only my lazy butt can tell you that I was really lazy. But ever since the wife challenged me to walk at least 2-3 times a week, I must say I'm liking the 20 minutes of solitude I get with my iPod. It's still a little warm here in SoCal when I walk home and I enter the house all sticky, but it's worth it. My body likes it and so does my pocket book. I am not lying when I say I get gas about once every 2-3 weeks. And on top of health reasons, I wanted to go somewhat green. Since green is my favorite color, I want to just be even more green.

But here's the disturbing thing about all this talk about me walking and crude oil prices falling. WSJ writes:

Rattled by the swift price drop and evidence of plunging demand, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries hastily agreed Thursday to meet next week in Vienna to weigh a production cut, in a bid to firm up prices. The cartel, supplier of nearly 40% of the world's oil, had planned to hold an emergency session in mid-November, but the plunge in prices has spread alarm among countries like Nigeria and Venezuela that have grown heavily dependent on rising crude revenues.

Now, to show you all how naive I am about running a business, I thought OPEC would cut production because the demand just isn't there as much as 14 months ago. I thought OPEC was actually a nice corporate citizen. No, the reason for them to cut oil prices is because they want to "firm up prices". And that the "plunge" in the price of the barrel has made countries like Nigeria and Venezuela shiver, because of their dependence on crude revenues. I know I'm sounding like a socialist, but I'm really not. I just don't understand the greed I guess. I mean, I am a greedy person. But the folks who run OPEC? They make Gordon Gekko look like Santa Claus.