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 | Blogs > fire_rain_maker > From a White House closet > WHO ARE THEY ????????? |
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fire_rain_maker
4/22/2008 10:58 amLast Read: |
Who are the money grubbing weasels who've doubled the prices of oil and gas? OPEC has repeatedly said the oil supply is OK. Numerous experts have recently said it's not the relation between supply and demand that's putting the price of oil and gas though the roof. Numerous experts are saying it's speculators, more specifically oil futures speculators, who have driven the doubling of the price of oil. SO, who are these money grubbing weasels who've found their way deep into out pockets? In normal times the President of the United States would order his Energy Secretary to find out who the weasels are and stop their massive greed. These are not normal times. In these times we might expect Obama or Clinton be demanding the perpetrators of this rape of our pocketbooks be identified and stopped. Not a peep from either so far. If we were really really drunk we might expect McCain to demand an oil price roll back! Unfortunately that might prove embarrassing to Bush. How much of our money is fueling or going to end up fueling and then be outright lost in this massive speculation? How much of our pension/retirement funds are being used to empty our wallets today? It takes a huge amount of cash to fuel a speculation like what we're seeing in the current oil futures price scam. It's not unusual for smart private money to spark such a speculation bubble and then be first to pull out after enough of our "public" money has been sucked in for the crash. Who has been driving the private money? Who is now putting our money in place to take the loss? WHO ARE THEY? It's the obvious question the media has ignored, the Congress has ignored and three candidates for President have ignored, as if $4.00 gas is an OK or just plain too bad kind of thing. Well in my opinion it's not OK. We are getting shafted at the pumps today with a good chance we'll end up paying for the same gas again when the oil futures speculation bubble bursts and the money that's ours that's helping inflate the bubble is lost. So we really should know now... WHO ARE THEY? 
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 4/22/2008 11:31 am |
I was told it was all those greedy bastards in Alberta (LO XOXO Jack Take the road less travelled.
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4/22/2008 11:52 am |
Hi Jack, It looks like the natural gas / oil boom in Alberta has peaked as the natural gas activity has declined over the past 6 months. Alberta is on the oil supply side but I don't think it's on the futures speculation side. There's too much money involved. My guess is the futures speculation which is producing the outrageous gas prices at the pump is being driven by US speculators. BTW the price at the gas pumps here is a high as everywhere else. 
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4/22/2008 12:05 pm |
yep... (nothing, but...) i just wanted to add that i am beginning to think that the honorable vice president resembles jabba the hut a lot more than he/himself joking that he's being likened unto "darth vader" ps. i have two (big) cat pictures i'll get around to eventually sending your way bud... they are really gorgeous animals- wish i knew more On a serious note: I want to thank you (ever-so-kindly) for your work in here. I've barely scratched the surface of your blog, and I turn to it/you on occaision to read something worth challenging myself with. You see; mine's a non-combatively-militant stance on this same issue. realistically yours, manowar1 pss. i don't own a car, but would be able to drive if the secretary of state would do something other than bitch about the social security administration, and have idiots running their own (obsolete?) pc's
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4/22/2008 12:06 pm |
correction: "jabba the hut on a hover craft"
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4/22/2008 12:31 pm |
i dun know but they better stop before i have to hand over my paycheck to them too Maybe they are the Texans who went to Alberta to take over and now they want to take over the world A warm smile and a soft look will turn away wrath even in the face of adversity. .. __________________________________________  Wear a smile today and you will have good success
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4/22/2008 12:43 pm |
correction: jabba the hut on a hoover vacuum sucking up every dollar in sight.
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4/22/2008 1:34 pm |
Serg, Forget looking for the answer in Alberta. It's Wall Street. The question is who on Wall Street. Part of the answer is they don't like media attention. Put them in the headlines where they now clearly belong and THAT will go a long way to ending their rip off. Sound too simple? Well is IS that simple!
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4/22/2008 1:35 pm |
once you go to the gas station and the grocery store you have nothing left over for enjoyment. looks like there is no end in sight either.
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4/22/2008 1:51 pm |
Oil and gold are fairly constant world worth items when compared to each other. Unfortunately oil is still mostly tied into usa dollars. When the value of the dollar drops compared to a "basket" of currencies in the world then people flock to things which hold their value relative to purchasing them in dollars. So alot of the so called speculation is really people buying oil futures so that the value of their assets remains constant or increases when turned back into dollars. Hence gold and oil react to this. In a way as the value of the usa dollar drops as it has since Bush W has been in office and will continue to do as long as they keep our inter bank lending rates low and heading lower than oil and gas must increase in cost or value to balance this. Noone in the world wants any of our financial crap any longer since it is essentially valueless hence money is flowing into commodities such as oil and out of the USA. Combine this with the fact that so many economies around the world have been kick started by usa corporations outsourcing until these people use much more oil than they would have normally if the usa labor market had not been outsourced for corporate profits. All this pretty much means the world will use up all the produced oil regardless of what the people in the USA conserve hence the price will rise regardless of what we do now. The European market--countries who collectively use euros is now the largest economy in the world with the USA now second so our percentage of world economy is dropping very quickly. Basically the spiral is now much faster in an up direction and it actually will not be dependant on the habits of the usa consumer. So oil and gas will just start a climb until the entire world's collection of economies crash now is what will happen. Countries with alot of natural resources AND a currency based on commodities will not be hurt so badly. Unfortunately the USA is not one of these counries--our wealth is now based on falsely leveraged paper which is now essentially worthless. Even these false fear mongering driven wars will no longer mask our bankruptcy in reality. There is a limit to how much money we can print and pass the cost on to the future--all that has essentially been pasted now---cruising on fumes with the crash in sight now. Noone can change these things since all changes effect cash flow. When the fake cash flow going on now stops--it all falls apart. So all the people who seem like they could possibly fix things just can't and they sit there hoping it will all magically get better which it won't. Sure the money comes from somewhere-anywhere the large investors can get it say like those pensions you mentioned OR free handouts from inflation causing printed money based on nothing to hold its value. So since no foreign people will just lend the USA any more money buying such low interest bonds etc now the corporations must sell out the USA piece by piece to get other than government injections of cash. A mess generated by greed and it is about to fall apart. Oil is gold now to keep the wheels rolling in the world and it will find whatever high value the world will pay now regardless of what the USA does. It is way too expensive to start wars to get the stuff now--no payback that is positive cashwise. So the companies who deal in it make record amount of profit. One interesting collection of "corporations" making a killing on the rising cost of oil and gas are the local taxing and national taxing entities hence they have less than zero motivation to stop the cost rises for gasoline or diesel fuel. If it costs double and the people still use essentially the same amount then those states and countries make twice as much money in taxes--you are talking huge amounts so hoping the governments at any level will do something is a pipedream which will never happen. Who knows how high it will go. The USA credit cards have been tapped out. The home equity has been more than tapped out. I say it will rise to at least 4.50 by the end of June in the usa which means 5.50 or so in loonies per usa gallon in canada. It will probably not drop back very much after that either. What can you do as an individual. Start saving money and stop wasting money on nonessential things else you will soon run out of money and become homeless and hungry. Stop buying things on credit especially depreciating things such as new cars or boats or toys like big screen tv's etc. Noone will save anyone in the middle class of lower so we must save ourselves now. My Blog Art Link to Current Bloggers Birthday List Chat FOR Bloggers
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 4/22/2008 2:24 pm |
i am very dissappointed by hillary and obama... no wonder, they are in a DEAD HEAT...
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4/22/2008 3:53 pm |
Gas in the UK is now approx 9.5 dollars a gallon!. And the large gas companies are making record profits. The Government also take a high percentage in special taxes. Our economy is running away mainly because of this high fuel cost and the excessive loan situation with the average debt now standing at many thousands of pounds stirling. (Not including house mortgages.) The latest assessment of inflation by private finance institutions is 8% but our conniving government try to insist that it is only 2.5% and within control. The slippery slope is here guys and it won't go away. Ken "Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. "Ralph Waldo Emerson,
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4/22/2008 5:21 pm |
Some people say a man is made outta mud. A poor man's made outta muscle and blood. Muscle and blood, skin and bones; A mind that's weak and a back that's strong. You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt. St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store. Well, I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine. I picked up a shovel, Iwalked out to the mine. I loaded sixteen tons of Number 9 coal, An' the store boss said: "Well, bless my soul." You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt. St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store. Well, I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain. Fightin' an' trouble are my middle name. I was raised in the canebreak by an old mama lion, Can't no high-toned woman makes me walk the line. You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt. St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store. Well, if you see me comin', better step aside. A lotta men didn't; a lotta men died. One fist of iron, the other of steel. If the right one don't get you, then the left one will. You load sixteen tons an' what do you get? Another day older deeper and debt. St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go: I owe my soul to the company store. Te+Ee>R=C
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4/22/2008 11:07 pm |
Hi luvithere, and looming on the horizon are all the people who are going to the gas station, grocery store and everywhere else on credit cards that are just about maxed out!
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4/22/2008 11:18 pm |
Hi MGFM, That was quite a comment. I agree with quite a bit of what you've said in essence BUT I do believe the American economy has an amazing amount of resiliance when it gets on the correcty track. The problem is no one is focusing on that right now. I still maintain there is an identifiable core group of speculators driving the oil futures markets, they've been at it for the past year and a half and they need to be put one the front pages of the media so we can all thank them more personally when we fill our tanks. This may also discourage their more recent followers who have turned the oil futures market into a frency getting closer each day to a crunch.
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4/22/2008 11:19 pm |
Hey jobro, You've read my mind. I'll say more in my Thursday posting. 
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4/22/2008 11:24 pm |
Hi Ken, I agree Europe is in much the same boat. Mr. Bean has long had the right idea with his Mini but he's kept kind of silent on it. 
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4/22/2008 11:26 pm |
Yo Delta Can you update that song from "owe my soul to the company store." to owe my soul to Visa?
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4/22/2008 11:44 pm |
I'm about to give up, I don't know who is sucking us dry, must not be gay, or they would be sucking more dicks everywhere, the way they are sucking money out of middle class.. It was a mess today, I just got done cleaning my boat from it's winters nap. Went to take one of the boys to B.K. for helping me, when all to my dismay, gas prices were $3.70.. Up .30 in a day. Only two gas stations held their prices untill this evening to rase them. There were lines out to the road, and since it was my lane, I stoped too.. Not for the boat, but to add some just to my truck.... I don't even want to take m boat out this summer, but if I do, I think I need a lone just for gas..... Mayby a second finance just to pay for gas.. I don't think I'll be doing all that much boating if this keeps up.. Feet, don't fail me now..... hugs Ray
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4/23/2008 12:45 am |
hey Ray... about that sailboat you've been looking at!
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4/23/2008 4:50 am |
Hay Ray, Kayaks are loads of fun. Te+Ee>R=C
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4/23/2008 7:04 am |
Tippy canoe and Getsum too!
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4/23/2008 12:56 pm |
Sounds like a plan.. hugs Ray
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4/23/2008 1:07 pm |
"Sounds like a plan.." Plan? I fear your plan is you and Davey out on a lake making out in a canoe. ONLY CANADIANS CAN PULL THAT OFF!
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4/24/2008 2:49 am |
My first aqua-sex was in a John boat.  Te+Ee>R=C
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4/24/2008 11:17 am |
OK Delta, To help the folks who don't know (I didn't) here's what Wikipedia says about a John boat... John boats are flat-bottomed boats constructed of aluminum or wood with 1 to 3 bench seats. Their most useful purpose is for hunting due to the greater level of stability as compared with a V-hull aluminum boat; however they are quite suitable for fishing as well. Because the hull of a Jon boat is nearly flat, it tends to ride over the waves rather than cut through them as a V-hull might, thus limiting the use of the boat to calmer waters. Jon boats typically have a transom onto which an outboard motor can be mounted. They are simple and easy to maintain, and inexpensive with many options to upgrade. John boats are available commercially between 8 and 20 feet long and 36 inches to 56 inches wide, though custom sizes may be found. The simple design includes an open hull, without a bilge, leaving the ribs exposed. Many individuals choose to cover the ribs leaving a flat, level surface. Many individuals have recently been transforming these modern day john boats into bass boats. From reading this first it's obvious sex in a canoe would be a much greater challenge (yes we Canadianms do have talent!) and second have you considered adding your own very good use for a John boat to Wikipedia?
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4/24/2008 5:49 pm |
Hey, as Pogo used to say, "We have met the enemy and he is us". If we were really serious about making some initial changes we would make a course correction in how we live our lifes...... stop being quite so wasteful and try to conserve. Secondly, Bill is right on about everyone having a vested interest in keeping the costs high as there tax base is so dependent. Thirdly, even if McCain gets his druthers and drops the federal gas tax for the summer we will still pay as they (the government) has to make up the difference some place. Maybe the old fire drill of my youth is the answer..... Stop, Drop and Roll. If you want to stifle the progress of this mockery, stop buying the gas (become more efficient in your travels, Drop all pretense of what you need in life and drive an efficient car, and roll with punches until such time as this is over with. The prices will drop some eventually, but will remain higher in the long run. SO, repeat the stop and drop sequence over and over until you reduce your useage to the point that you can afford to drive. Hugs Larry
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4/24/2008 8:48 pm |
I'm far from being an expert on why things cost as much as they do. In 1960, there use to be a show on TV called The Millionaire. Michael Anthony would show up at someone's door and give a person a check for 1 million dollars from a very rich person who wanted to remain anonymous. I recently calculated how much money one would have to make today to have an equivalent of 1 million Dollars in 1960. A decent home in 1960 cost about 16,000, today it is about 250,000. The high salary a common man can shoot for in 1960 was to become an airline pilot at $125 per week. In 1960, the median yearly salary for a man was $4,200. Today, the median yearly salary is $ 71,500 per year. Thus the salary has increased 17 fold while cost of buying a house increased about 16 fold. So one would need to have $ 17 millions dollars to be a millionaire by 1960 standards. Being a millionaire today just aint what it use to be. Gas in 1961 cost 31 cents a gallon. The equivalent cost in 1960 in todays dollars is then .31 X 17 = $ 5.27 Gallon. So we are paying a lot less for gas at today's prices than our fathers' & grandfathers' payed back in 1960.
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4/24/2008 11:12 pm |
A wow to Larry and friendship17 for their excellent comments. Larry... your advice follows my practice at the moment which is to get as energy efficient as I can. If everyone follows that track the speculators will be left holding the bag. friendship... I understand your point but am very tempted to note you have to be a multi-millionaire to really afford to fill up the old SUV tank these days.
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4/25/2008 12:16 am |
This is a multi-faceted issue and can't be can't be approached simplistically. High fuel costs are a double edged sword. It's obvious people won't voluntarily reduce their fuel consumption. High costs will do it for them, to a degree. Governments, particularly ours, takes a percentage of fuel costs in tax. The higher the price, the higher their take. So it doesn't stand to reason that if they lowered fuel tax their revenue would drop. Provided they calculated correctly, they could end up getting the same amount - revenue neutral. But then, lower prices would encourage higher consumption. And governments want the extra money to cover their incompetence with budgetting, and to have a bit put aside for pork-barrelling at election time. Then China and India are increasing their share of world fuel supplies rapidly. Means someone has to miss out. It's a different world today. Iraq and Afghanistan were probably the US's last opportunity for 'gunboat diplomacy' to ensure its oil supplies. They now have to stand in the same queue as everyone else. While the $US was the trade currency, the US was able to print it like it was going out of fashion and not have to worry about honouring it when it returned. In fact it never used to return, and more was printed in its place. But the trouble is it's going out of fashion these days, and many countries are now writing up contracts in Euros rather than $US. As more countries get rid of their $US those notes will be returning but have nothing to back them up. The only thing that could possibly save the $US is the petro-countries who hold massive amounts of them, and China realise that if they dump their $US too fast the price will crash and they'll get very little back. It's in their interest to try and keep the $US up. It's a global economy and most realise it. So there's a lot of conflicting interests operating in the background. The middle-men want to maintain value in their own pocket which means with a dropping $US they want more. Speculators, as you've suggested, see the opportunity for quick profits. "Who are they?" The response of the possessing demon comes to mind: "I am Legion!"
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4/25/2008 9:33 am |
Hi Tony, As you've noted the US dollar has been falling and the new Euro is to a degree taking its place. Many say the current oil futures speculation is being driven by those using oil futures as protection against a falling dollar. However, how much of the oil price gains is due to the surge of speculators into what is now the oil futures bubble. Too many speculators chasing to few oil futures contracts eventually leads to a crash. Smart money gets out before the crash, leaving the losses to the suckers who saw big gains and jumped in the market after the first surge of gains. It seems to me that's around where we're at now. Who are the "they" who got this mess really rolling and who are the "they" now trying to sustain it? I fear the sustaining "they" are us common folk through those who have control of our money such as pension funds. You know, money that's supposed to be conservatively invested being put into dangerous speculation to eventually be lost to the surprise of all.
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4/26/2008 9:17 am |
Things will not get "better"....we will ajdust....adapt...refocus our budgets.....life will go on. Hugs, Dave
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4/26/2008 9:18 am |
*adjust*........oops!
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4/27/2008 3:50 pm |
Hey Dave, I hear there are many caves in Utah and they haven't been hit by the sub-prime mess either! (just kidding of course)
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4/29/2008 11:22 pm |
I just decided to get a Vespra or an electric mini scooter to scoot around town and for the long distance drives will only use my car that Im trading in for either deisel (the ones that run on refirbished vegetable oil from the local fryer) till they get their ass in gear and this shit straightened out--im not contributing to their riches anymore!! A warm smile and a soft look will turn away wrath even in the face of adversity. .. __________________________________________ Wear a smile today and you will have good success
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5/1/2008 12:32 am |
Hi Serg, I think maybe you're not going to be alone in making travel style changes. I'd like to get a skateboard but I'm afraid I'd break my neck!
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5/2/2008 3:43 pm |
The Builderburg's. You wanted to know. Now you do. Have fun with this one. Be very careful though. It's like handling nitro & ebola at the same time.  = : - $Te+Ee>R=C
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5/3/2008 10:15 am |
Yo Delta, I thought it was the hedge funds. You know... the folks planting hedges around America to keep the SEC out.
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5/3/2008 6:02 pm |
So your hedging your bet about the hedge funders with shrubbery. I can deal with that. Te+Ee>R=C
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5/4/2008 8:33 am |
Yes Delta, The Monty Python School of Economics. 
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5/8/2008 3:57 am |
Well my canadian friend,the futures market is world wide.Congress an the President do not control it.Who are they----- anyone on this planet that has money an can afford to play.Can the market be manipulated,sure looks that way to me,but its not being led by the greedy american investor or speculator.So whats the solution to this problem you ask.Congress can pass legislation to open drilling for oil in the continental united states,remove the byzentine regulations on the oil refinerys an pass legislation to fast track the building of new oil refinerys.By doing so would drive alot of speculators away from oil futures which would drive the price down, an in the long run would make us more energy independent.The money spent on oil an gas would stay in the us economy(estmated at trillions of dollars yearly),an not go to every little tin horn dictator an religious fanatic an other assorted nut job leader on this planet.
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5/8/2008 9:52 am |
Well tcm the futures market is worldwide but the driving force of it is in my opinion Wall Street driven. Opening up drilling in the USA can help a bit but America is stuck with importing oil for the long term. There simple isn't enough oil to be found in the USA. A fast track on new refineries I'm guessing would help some but there's still the speculation problem that an oil rig worker stubbing his toe in Nigeria in the morning causes a leap in the price at the gas station pumps in California by noon the same day (OK I exaggerate a tiny bit). It seems there's no shortage of gas these days... just way too much speculative money chasing it. In the long term alternate energy sources have to be the answer but how painful is it going to be getting there. As for the "canadian" angle, we have a surplus of oil in daily production but pay the US price on it at the consumer level and our manufacturing economy is being quickly ruined by the skewing of the Canadian dollar due to the current oil speculation.
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5/8/2008 2:27 pm |
My friend your opinion about the driving force being wall street is simply not borne out by the facts.Opening up the drilling in the US would drive the price down.I asked a friend of mine who is in the commodiity market to explain to me how it works.Yes you are correct if someone does stub their toe the price will go up.If there is any good news the price will go down.If the democrats passed legislation to fast track construction of new oil refinerys the price would go down.Your guessing that new refinerys would help some The facts are we are at 99% capacity.Fact we do not have enough oil to refine an even if we did we could not refine it because we simply do not have the capacity.We have not built a oil refiery in over 30 years.Fact the US has more oil untapped than the whole world but because of the short sightedness of a bunch of diletante do gooders an other assorted so called experts (sorry i had to get that off my chest)an politians we are in the situation we find ourselfs in.Oil is priced on a supply an demand,which means when the supply is down the price goes up(see your point about stubbing toe) when there is to much oil the price goes down.Right now we have the situation where their is simply to many dollars chasing to few oil, plus the speculators which is driving the price out the roof.About the candian angle i really can't speak about that.The alternative energy we can talk about that some other time
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5/8/2008 11:21 pm |
TCM... For 7+ years Bush has done diddly squat for America as a whole as President about the refining capacity in the USA. Not one single bit of leadership directed to the special interests mostly based in Texas that have bought him his home in the White House. As for your utterly wild claim... Fact the US has more oil untapped than the whole world Dude I do not want to seem too blunt but that fact is just plain crap.
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