Yes, Melissa…OPEC is, in fact, a Cartel

Another Terrific Cartel Byproduct: Duck a la Oil

 

CNBC’s Melissa Francis inadvertently ticked off one of the lovely OPEC ministers she was pointlessly attempting to interview by referring to the organization as a “Cartel“.

Melissa shouldn’t apologize, she was right on the money…

From Wikipedia:
A cartel is a counterfeit agreement among industries. It is an informal organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production.  Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products. Cartel members may agree on such matters as price fixing, total industry output, market shares, allocation of customers, allocation of territories, bid rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, and the division of profits or combination of these. The aim of such collusion is to increase individual members’ profits by reducing competition.

If it looks like an oil-soaked duck and it quacks like an oil-soaked duck…guess what?  It’s not a porcupine.

Don’t worry, OPEC, one day we will break free from our dependence on your filthy product and you can then explain to your constituents why you chose to build solid gold Rolls Royce’s rather than invest your profits into local infrastructure and industry.