What's happening now is how a free market should work. Capitalism is what's happening now. Cartel behaviour is not really part of the capitalist ideal.
I find it ironic that people who are right wing blame Saudi Arabia for the price crash. Blame them for the boom. The crash occurred because the world got over supplied because people made poor investments which allowed more oil to be produced. The book is what was false. The crash is the free market consuming bad capital.
The longer this goes the better it is for oilsands. They are long term and capital intensive so even if the companies go bankrupt the assets are worth a lot and will be picked up by someone.
Shale on the other hand requires a strong short term market and continuous capital injection to spend. So if the current well can't fund the next well the whole thing crashes.
Shake does put a hard cap on the price of oil at around $80 for the foreseeable future though. The Saudis know this so they want to crush the shake guys until banks won't lend them money for fear that the Saudis will tank price again. This way the price goes back to 80 and the Saudus have a few more million barrels in market share.
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