Russia Praying for High Oil Prices

While spending three days at the 13th annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, I was constantly thinking to myself, "What is the main message of the forum and what can I take away from it?" The topics of the sessions were vague, and they duplicated what almost every other large global conference discusses: the crisis, globalization and a new financial architecture.

But after the forum was completed, I realized that the main point of the conference boiled down to one session only -- the one titled "What is the Price of Oil?" During this session, participants were asked to answer the question using individual electronic controls. The answer that most people chose was a range of $70 to $80 per barrel. When people ask me what I learned the most from the forum, I have my own one-liner: "70 to 80."