After being rebuffed by Russia, the Saudi’s made it clear that if Mr. Putin didn’t want to cut oil supplies along with OPEC, they would ruin the Russian economy. With oil down nearly 50% over the past weeks, Russia’s principal source of currency has taken a big hit. While we may eventually (it takes a long time for retail pricing to reflect big drops in crude prices) start laughing all the way to the pump, this might be a short period of jocularity…as the same move to drive oil prices down will also push many US shale producers into bankruptcy. The world, already oversupplied with oil, sees speculators storing oil for future sale on oil tankers.