High price, low demand creates a dangerous oil market

When has the oil market been the most dangerous? Well, from a GDP perspective, you have to say in the summer of 2008, when the leverage bubble sent oil to the truly dizzying height of $147.27 per barrel -- an impossible price that choked off any momentum the U.S. economy had, and help drive it into the current recession.

Others may cite the world's first two oil shocks, in 1973-74 and 1979-80, which were followed by U.S. recessions (imagine that!), as other periods when the oil market was most dangerous.

Still, energy traders today might cite the current oil market. Oil is flirting with $60 per barrel despite the fact that the price is well above what most sector analysts consider a price justified by fundamentals.