It wasn’t long ago that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s decision to nationalize state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) resulted in a failed coup that very nearly cost him his post.

In the energy market Monday, oil slipped lower, with crude for December delivery closing at $62.73/barrel, down 49 cents. November reformulated gasoline fell 2.1 cents, to $1.4555/gallon.

What has really changed?…importing inflation…hoping to prove Friedman wrong…Can the U.S. central bank really begin fighting inflation in a serious way? Ah, dear reader – there’s a cruel twist to this story…The cure for high prices is high prices…and so the global economy lurches forward…and more!

What you’re looking at below is a chart of the gold-to-oil ratio. The gold-to-oil ratio is exactly what it sounds like. You simply take the spot price for an ounce of gold — around $900 per ounce as of this writing — and divide it by the price of a barrel of oil.

A new community in South America is born with a variety of diverse and complex objectives spanning cultural, social and economic realms… another aim is the social inclusion, the civic participation, the strengthening of democracy for all.

 Want to earn $195 per day, tax free, on top of your salary? Go to work in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Peak oil — once considered the domain of conspiracy theory buffs — has become hard economic fact, as fears of an oil production shortage within five years sent long-term oil futures to almost $140 a barrel today.

This from the Financial Times:

The spot price of Nymex West Texas Intermediate hit a record $130.30 a barrel on Wednesday. On Tuesday investors had rushed to buy oil futures contracts as far forward as December 2016,

In Chicago, gas prices have now topped $4 a gallon. Americans all across the country are struggling to fill up the tank. Companies are even pitching in gas money to help their employees out.

Amidst all the furore regarding the Labour administration’s embarrassingly mis-managed tax shortcomings, the cries of those in the UK warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in the developing world have been lost.

The Canadian Markets marched ever higher during Friday trading.