We don’t spend enough time thinking about unintended consequences. Let’s take a simple example like plastic straws.

Seems like a simple thing to eliminate. Lots of plastic in the ocean – not to mention sewage- and really who needs a straw anyway? So we have moved to metal ones. Unfortunately, a 60 year old woman in England tripped, impaled herself on one and that was that.

It’s pretty clear that production growth has had the unintended consequence of making the US Energy company its own worst enemy. With earnings starting in earnest this week, we shall see who reduces the number of metal straws we are putting in the ground and stop killing ourselves with low prices.