Just a short remark:
The US is experiencing one of the longest economic
expansions in its history. The only thing that americans fear
today is inflation. If prices go up, Mr. Greenspan from the
Federal Reserve
(the american parallel for Bank Israel) will have
to raise the interest rates. When interest rates go up, so says
the economic theory, stocks will go down. Stocks - this is
Wall-street, and a falling wall-street means a recession,
with many american families seeing their pension funds
and savings shrinking.

Those of you who follow oil prices might have noticed that
a while ago, the price of an oil barrel rose to about $32.
High oil prices mean higher prices for all those things
that need oil for their production: electricity, metals
(in the refining process), plastics,...
This means a higher inflation - many things become more
expensive when oil price rises.

However, mysteriously enough, the US secretary of the
treasury (the american name for the minister
of finance) came just then to an urgent meeting with OPEC
leaders to convince them to reduce prices. I don't know
what was said there, but prices have fallen immediately
by some 20-30%. Conclusion: It is no secret that Americans
try to lower oil prices - they will do anything to prevent
a fall in wall street in an election year.