History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes — take Saudi Arabia pushing OPEC to boost production, seemingly to humble cartel cheaters.

If it sounds familiar, it’s just coincidence. I’m not talking about last week, but rather 1997, when an OPEC meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta hiked output just as the Asian financial crisis was gaining momentum (and the week Indonesia’s rupiah cratered). Few anticipated how ugly the combination of extra production and slowing economies would be. A year later, oil prices had plunged below $10 a barrel, and the policy mistake lives forever in OPEC’s memory as the “Ghost of Jakarta.”

Today, we are only sowing the seeds of a global economic disruption.........

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