Falling Oil Prices Mean Trouble For Unstable Governments

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview. 

As car lovers gather in Detroit for the Motor City's annual Auto Show this year, the National Auto Dealers Association is projecting a banner year for the American auto industry, with the sale or lease of nearly 18 million U.S. vehicles.

The plummeting price of oil can only help with those sales. Crude oil is at a 12-year low, and some varieties are selling at just $30 a barrel.

But as automakers cheer, countries dependent on oil revenue worry about long-term stability. David Goldwyn, former State Department special envoy for international energy affairs, explains that countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia have good reasons to be concerned.

Goldwyn, now the president of Goldwyn Global Strategies, explains that these nations have a high unemployment rate and an economy deeply connected to the energy industry. 

What you'll learn from this segment:

• How plummeting oil prices affect governments dependent on energy revenues.
• How low oil prices are changing things in the Middle East.
• What this shift means for nations in Latin America.