Mid East Eye: Middle East oil producers benefit from Venezuela's economic woes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Venezuela’s economic woes just got even worse, but that's likely a blessing for the oil-rich nations of the Middle East.

Last week the Latin American country, which is also rich in oil resources, got slapped with US sanctions. It’s just the latest problem for the socialist government and will make it even harder for the country to pump oil.

Venezuela's oil problems are set to give a helping hand to the Middle East, especially those countries that are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), because a drop off from Venezuela’s output allows energy-rich Middle East countries to increase their production rates. Read more here.

Forbes: Facebook Scandal -- How Many Cockroaches Are There?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Facebook is in a pickle over the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal.

That much is clear.

The big question now is simple: What other scandals, if any, will emerge from the social media giant? Or more simply, how many cockroaches are there? Read more here.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Forbes: No, We Really Don't Need Government Regulation Of The Tech Industry

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Calls for government regulation of the tech business would be laughable if they weren't so sad.

The truth is that the government proved beyond reasonable doubt its inability to effectively regulate during the financial crisis. In that light, calls for the government to now impose and administer new rules on an equally complex industry seem preposterous. Read more here.

Joe Piscopo Show: Talking Economics

By SIMON CONSTABLE

I'm on around 20 mins past the hour

Forbes: What Worries Wall Street About Facebook?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Facebook has had a bad week with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In the wake of revelations that data on perhaps more than 50 million Facebook users was shared, the stock has come under pressure, shedding around 10% in the week from last Friday through Thursday. Read more here.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Middle East Eye: Cash Fleeing Saudi Arabia

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A torrent of money has fled Saudi Arabia as a result of its struggling economy.
It’s bad news for a country that is desperately trying to shed its dependence on the energy business and refashion its economy for a post-oil world.

New research shows the kingdom saw tens of billions of dollars of capital leave the kingdom each year from 2012 up to and including last year. Next year there will be more of the same, states the March-dated report from the DC-based think tank, the Institute of International Finance (IIF). Read more here.

Jedda, Saudi Arabia

Photo by mohammed alorabi on Unsplash

Middle East Eye: Rising US interest rates may damage Gulf economies

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Some oil-rich Gulf States have barely recovered from the oil market slump, yet now they face a new potential threat to their economies. Rising US interest rates may crimp growth or worse, send some countries back into recessions from which they just emerged.

It is all happening because the countries in question have an unusual arrangement for their currencies: the value of their money is fixed against the US dollar. The situation has some significant benefits but also some downsides, such as right now when the cost of borrowing money is rising. Read more here.