Crude morals

The marketplace, like justice, is said to blind, its scales designed to weigh gold rather than contending cases in litigation, let alone rival endeavors to flaunt moral certainties. That’s why it has been with mystification that over the years this space has looked at exceptions to, or confirmations of, that rule. And now, with oil having crossed the $50 per barrel threshold, it is astonishing how much righteousness can be included in so many liters of crude. The definitional moment for the “moralization” of oil came on September 11, 2001. In the aftermath of the attack, pundits, publicists, show-boaters and demagogues argued that because most of the hijackers on that fateful day were Saudis, it was important to reconsider the relationship between America and Saudi Arabia. Since the relationship floats on an ocean of oil, many a critic naturally argued that that was where the US had to show it