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The actual 100/bbl is just a blip and it received some attention. The blip itself is of no consequence in and of itself. That it got the press and attention that it did suggests that there was some surprise at the price finally getting there. I doubt that anyone outside the US was surprised by it. The real price of oil hasn't risen much recently, it's just that the commodity used for the most part in exchange, the US$, for oil has lost quite a bit of it's value over the past year.
If I was an American I'd probably be a bit concerned about the direction that the US is taking in it's dependence on foreign capital and manufacturing.
I've been away for a few months and returned to a pile of mail, newspapers and email. Sitting down and scanning through 3 months worth of information has been an interesting experience. Major concentrated download instead of the the usual daily stream of normal life. Odd patterns emerged while catching up and the one observation I'd make is that as foreign ownership of US businesses has increased so has the influence of the new owners.
To balance this all, there is an interesting fact that at first glance makes no sense. The US Debt is about $31,000.00 per person. Looking from the outside would you feel comfortable looking for every American being able to service that debt? Riyadh, Singapore and Beijing seem to believe that that capability is there as proven by their recent investments.
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