I prefer to call it stealing in the ongoing Grand Theft of our Planet’s resources

Toll roads are going bankrupt because Americans don’t drive as much anymore. Why? Profit before people is the obvious answer. The mega-greed of the mega-corporations remains unbelievable.

You couldn’t possibly still believe that the Big Three, Oil, Pharma and military / industrial complex actually care one rat’s ring about Joe Sixpack and his family after reading this from Insider Mark Kaylan:

Putin, Erdogan, Saudi Arabia: The Balance Of Power Is Shifting

“If you subtract Ebola and ISIS from the news, what are the three most significant recent developments in world affairs? Here are my nominations: Saudi Arabia announces it will raise production and drop oil prices, Turkey loses its bid to serve on the UN Security Council, a meeting between Putin and Merkel gets cancelled because he’s late (though they meet later). You may be surprised to know that all three events do interconnect in unexpected ways. They also tell us a lot about real-time shifts in geostrategic power balances, how they happen and how to read them.

Let us begin with the first. Why would Saudi Arabia seemingly cut off its nose to spite its face, as it were, by gratuitously reducing its own national revenue? Recent reports have it that the Saudis are willing to see oil prices go down to $80 a barrel and even, according to this report, down to $60 or $50 for preferred customers in the West and Asia. http://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/402343–saudi-arabia-to-pressure-russia-iran-with-price-of-oil. The article identifies the real purpose: to punish Iran, Russia and its client Assad, of Syria. Top Russian oil official Mikhail Leontyev from Rosneft was quoted in Russian media as saying, “Saudi Arabia has begun making big discounts on oil. This is political manipulation and Saudi Arabia is being manipulated politically which could end badly”.  Translated into blunt English, Leontyev is actually threatening the Saudis while not accusing them directly. In other words, the Russians know it’s the Saudis making a strategic move against them. According to most statisticians Moscow needs to sell oil at $100 to pay for its budget commitments.

All this comes on the heels of a slowdown in the world economy also dragging down the price of oil. Add to that the sanctions imposed on Moscow and Tehran by the West and the pressure on the geostrategic balance of power grows clearer. Although SA’s decision helps Western sanctions, Moscow knows full well Riyadh has not co-ordinated with Washington because really low oil prices (at say $50) will also damage America’s fracking revolution by undercutting it. So Leontyev’s message to Saudi should actually read “you are helping Western sanctions even if you don’t intend to but we know you’re acting alone and that makes you the more vulnerable”. So why would Saudi, acting unilaterally, risk Moscow’s ire at this juncture? Because the alignment of the US with Russia and Iran and Assad against ISIS doesn’t suit the Saudis at all. Riyadh tried countering the Shiite bloc by helping fund jihad in Syria and it backfired. So now the Saudis have decided to punish everyone concerned, including the US. A huge gamble indeed.  The Saudis are deploying the last arrow in their quiver.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/10/17/putin-erdogan-saudi-arabia-the-balance-of-power-is-shifting/