Apparently, CNN has one-upped the experts on energy markets. They're claiming, based on current price fluctuations, that we won’t see oil dip below $70 a barrel until — get this — 2032.
CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman — who’s become notorious for publishing some of the dumbest economic hot takes on the CNN website — joined the May 26 edition of CNN’s The Situation Room to put a face to the wild-eyed, logically derelict anti-Trump screeds he gets paid to write.
“There’s a huge amount of time that it’s going to take according to the futures market before we get back down to that sub-$70 oil level — look at this — 2032,” Goldman bloviated with certainty to anchor Pamela Brown, like he just struck black gold on the research front. He sneered further: “So, you want $3 gas again? You’re going to have to wait maybe six years,” which also conveniently means two presidential cycles. How does he know this? Eh, market vibes! Yes, vibes are what's driving Goldman’s doom porn.
Holy BP Oil Spill! This is like promising we won’t see 70-degree weather again for the next six years. Oil markets don’t work that way — and unless CNN has completely lost the economic plot, their TV flunkies know this too. Even Brown responded with a flabbergasted “What?!” in disbelief at Goldman’s argument: “I’m sorry, did I hear you correctly? Did you say 2032?”
Goldman chuckled nervously then walked back his claim into a hedge by pointing to a Brent Oil Futures chart and throwing the assertion off of himself, “This tells you what the oil market is predicting prices will be in the future … That’s the prediction. We’ll see if that ends up being the case.”
How convenient.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 26, 2026
CNN claims gas prices are not going to drop until 2032 (or two presidential election cycles). pic.twitter.com/DIMZAHKQNm
As anybody with two brain cells and a cursory understanding of energy markets knows, there’s absolutely zero way to reliably project oil prices years out. That’s because the sector is extremely volatile and is subject to change drastically from day-to-day based on a multiplicity of factors. For example, when there was scuttlebutt about a potential peace deal between the U.S. and Iran regarding the ongoing war on May 24, The New York Times reported that Brent crude cratered 6.5 percent with West Texas Intermediate (U.S. crude) falling the at the same rate, with both benchmarks sinking below $100 a barrel in just a single day of trading. Does that sound like a reliable foundation for long-term crystal ball prophecies, Goldman?
But of course, Goldman used his brittle logic to then cast a dark cloud over multiple sectors to make the case that sticky energy prices (if that’s even a thing) will continue to drive inflation. It’s worth pointing out that this is the same schlub that tried to gaslight voters before the 2024 election, “America won the war on inflation. You still think the economy stinks.” What was different then? Oh, the guy sitting in the Oval Office of course!
But as Tressis Chief Economist Daniel Lacalle noted in a recent explainer video on X that energy “works as a disinflationary factor in the next months as the Strait of Hormuz challenges become less relevant and a peace deal is achieved.” Oil price volatility, per Lacalle, doesn’t “cause inflation.” In fact, Lacalle asserted that inflation is “not caused by oil, by supply chain disruptions or by tariffs. Why? Because supply chain disruptions and oil — if they were the cause of inflation, we would have had — in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — deflation, not slow levels of annual disinflation.”
By disinflation, Lacalle explained that the term means “prices continue to go up but they go up at a slower pace.” The “only thing” that could cause aggregate prices to continue climbing on a consistent basis within this dynamic, argued Lacalle, is persistent levels of out-of-control government spending, more deficit spending, more money-printing and “with it more units of currency going to the same goods and services.”
What to expect on inflation pic.twitter.com/ldQqX4GMJF
— Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) May 26, 2026
So what are we to make of Goldman’s fortune cookie? Well, nothing really. Worthy of note is that Goldman used to be the "executive editor" of CNN Business (even earlier this month) before being apparently demoted to "senior reporter" of the department. Could it be because CNN didn't want its whole one-sided business coverage repeatedly getting skewered straight to hell with Goldman's fatuous arguments at the top?
NewsBusters Associate Editor Nicholas Fondacaro contributed to this report.
