The recent plunge in the global crude oil price down to near $85 a barrel — a 20 percent drop from June — has everyone talking, from Washington and Wall Street to London and Riyadh. What does it mean for the U.S. economy and the currently booming U.S. oil industry?

Oil prices rise and fall, but this fall might signal a massive shift in the global balance of energy power. For once, it stands to favor the United States and Western-style democracies, and harm the autocrats and despots who run the Organization of Oil-Exporting Countries or OPEC, as well as Vladimir Putin and Russia.