oil
Only a few times in my life has oil led the news. Otherwise, outside of oil company profit statements, rarely is oil news, puzzling for a fuel that defined modern life for a century. The first time oil spilled across the front pages, there used to be these thing called newspapers kids, was the “Oil Shock” of 1973, then again a half-dozen years later with the second “Oil Shock.” Oil hit a $100 barrel in 2007 and $150 in 2008, sharing the headlines with a collapsing financial system.
On all three occasions, the price spike pushed the economy into recession. Over the last couple months oil once again reached $100, most likely leading to economic recession. Once again, despite oil's prominence, Americans remain determined to learn as little as possible, nonetheless, there’s some highly educational events taking place.
There's a good article in the FT about Brazil. A few years ago, Brazil was promoted as the next big oil producer, this was never going to be the case. Sure a couple new fields were found far off the coast, maybe adding a couple million or so more barrels, in balance, not even enough for Brazil.
The FT writes the political pressures from oil's rise are beginning to impact Brazilian politics, particularly their Trump-style president, Jair Bolsonaro. Rising oil prices are never good for incumbents of any shade, a lesson lost to DC Democrats, but they've whipped themselves into a war frenzy, for a lot that doesn't think well on the best occasions, there's no thinking at all.
The FT states,