Conflict in the Middle East, but cheaper oil? The surprising economic twist explained

Ahead of Black Friday, shops bump up their prices so that when they make the cuts for the big day, it feels as though you’re getting a bargain when in fact all you’re seeing is a small clipping of what was the original price. For example, if I sell an apple for $1 but then bump it up to $2 and say there’s a 50% discount, you don’t get a good deal. We all agree this is just sleight of hand.

So don’t believe Donald Trump if he tells you he brought the price of oil down.

Yes, oil prices are down, but they’re only back where they started before the so-called Leader of the Free World©, with his conservative, isolationist policies, decided to - without congressional approval - drop thousands of pounds of never-before-used bombs from B-2 aircraft on a sovereign nation that posed no immediate existential threat to the United States.

Apparently they posed an existential threat to Trump’s master, Mr Netanyahu, but the Zionist has been pumping that line since before Bill Clinton was sworn into office and the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVII.

Anyway, back to oil. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 6.1% to $67.14 a barrel after the ceasefire was announced between Israel and Iran. As for West Texas Intermediate crude, the US oil benchmark, that dropped 6% to $64.37 a barrel. Amid the threat of all-out war, prices were tipped to double, potentially causing a catastrophic global financial crisis; closing the Strait of Hormuz - arguably the single most important waterway carrying around a quarter of the world’s oil supply - was also feared.

Alas, that did not happen. But Israel, who continue their campaign of killing innocent civilians in occupied Palestine, took their sense of impunity to a whole new level, breaking the ceasefire agreement, firing missiles at Iran.

This action led Trump to blow off steam in front of reporters ahead of a NATO summit, shouting the F-word to a group of stunned journalists, claiming that the two countries “don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” At least oil prices have, er, stayed exactly as they had done before fingers were pushed into nuclear pies. Talk about knowing what you’re doing.

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