I have been wondering about this for weeks--months actually. I have noted here before about oil per barrel was rising into the ranges that a scant two or three years ago would be giving every talking-head heartburn, and yet not-a-peep was heard. $40-$50 a barrel was stuck in people's heads for years and yet it kept going up past 60-70-80. Crickets.
So now we have Arab discontent spreading and bravery shown. We have Libya (with whom oil companies have had a cozier-than-thou relationship since before Lockerbie) on the cusp of....? Of putting a kink in oil supply. Now comes the panic.
http://agonist.org/michael_collins/20110307/libya_gas_prices_and_the_big_payday_at_your_expenseThis is disaster capitalism at work. You will notice what the oil prices are doing from now on. And you will be told inflation is out there and--even though it isn't counted in the core inflation numbers--it affects virtually everything, and everything is coming crashing down on your heads! Now! Only Now! It's those discontented Arabs' fault.
You'll notice all that talk about "no fly zones" sponsored by Europe and America disappeared from the headlines. The very idea of "not helping" Libya's Gaddafi has something to do with oil supply. I think the hesitation has more to do with knowing he still controls oil than it does with anything else. Fact is, we are in the wait-n-see mode. If we think Gaddafi is on his way out, we'll arrange shelter or his destruction; but as long as he holds the gas-pump in his hands--and his hands aren't yet "cold-- we will stay out it except for modest cheerleading about freedom.