Bloomberg Cheers Venezuela Intervention, Cites Canadian Oil Prices
Bloomberg Politics, ever the paragon of dispassionate economic analysis, recently reported that 'Canadian Heavy Crude Prices Weaken After Overthrow of Maduro.' The headline, and the story itself, frame the 'shocking capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro' by 'US forces' not as an act of war or a blatant violation of sovereignty, but as a fortuitous supply-side adjustment. (One might call
this a 'very specific interpretation' of international events.) For those tracking, this isn't the first time US interventionism has conveniently coincided with favorable market conditions for US-aligned energy interests. Remember Iraq? Or Libya? The media, particularly financial outlets, has a long-standing tradition of presenting regime change as an economic forecast. It’s almost as if the 'free
market' sometimes needs a little 'freedom delivery' to really get things moving. One has to wonder, how many national leaders will be 'shockingly captured' before Bloomberg notices a pattern beyond Q1 earnings?