Crude oil for January delivery...

...was down almost one percent when I started writing this post a few minutes ago, after a drop of around ten percent on Friday. Is that a good thing? Is it supply-driven, as the United States, Russia and OPEC keep pumping oil at a record rate? Will it just act as one big tax cut for American businesses and consumers?

Or is this all demand-driven, as the economies of Europe and China slow down, requiring less energy?

Take your pick. (We should find out in a few months.)

But if it's the latter, and the U. S. goes into a recession in 2015, what does that mean for the 2016 presidential election? Could a recession, as I've argued before, derail Hillary's chances for the White House? And, more ominously, will a deep recession (if we get one at all), bring back the tea party? If things get really rough in the next year or so, could we be talking about a President Mike Huckabee, or even a -- gulp! -- President Ted Cruz? God help us.

Remember the 1930s? Anything can happen.

A day after OPEC voted not to cut oil production in response to a weakening global market, prices plummeted to their lowest level since 2010. - See more at: http://columbiadailyherald.com/news/business/oil-prices-stocks-sink-lower-following-opec-meeting#sthash.Nbg80FIp.dpuf