Looks like Hugo Chavez might have to curtail his revolution of love and hoping and loving hope until he hopes there's still enough love to go around. Lower oil prices may make some of his more ambitious political moves unattainable. According to the Financial Times: "As oil prices continue their precipitous decline, the doomsayers in Venezuela are predicting trouble for Hugo Chávez, the president, whose political success owes much to a leap in income from oil exports - mostly to the US – in recent years." But of course, Chavez is trying to spin the situation, claiming that as long as oil remains in the $90 range the country should be fine. The problem with that is, it won't be fine. Look, those "focus groups," payments to "freedom fighters" and other signs of democracy are not going to pay for themselves. We're probably going to see a visible reduction in Chavez's presense in foreign affairs, and odds are if oil prices stay low long enough, the citizens will be done with him as well. –Stephen Payne, Editor, Oil and Gas Investor This Week; www.OilandGasInvestor.com; spayne@hartenergy.com