Gas Prices - June 2008

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Unfortunately you can do the same with the war...Which is a huge funnel of money and resources. Who put the sadam regime in place? We did... Who helped oust the Russians from Afghanistan only to allow the taliban to come to power? We did...So who is cleaning up the mess? We are...You can't tell me the war doesn't put strain on the economy. Don't get me wrong, I know that the changes were needed now but if we would have done the right thing in the first place(after the Russians pulled out, it would have been much easier to move a democracy in then instead of now, afterall we were vital to that conflict), who knows....hindsight.... It is funny how all things are relative.

At the time the biggest threat was communism spreading via the Soviet Union. We had had some hints of the growing threat of Islamic extremist but it was far less of a concern at the time. Yea if we had known we probably would have done a lot different but what can you do about it but move forward.

But as for whether we should pull out of Iraq or not you have to analyze the situation and try and make an educated guess as to what will happen if we do. You have to know that Iraq can not take care of itself at this point and if we pull out it will fail as a democratic state and revert to a fundamental Islamic state which would be far worse than if we stay and try and stabilize the country so we can leave at a time when it will survive. Another attack in the US would be a far worse drain.

[BrdWAtti2d]

Unfortunately you can do the same with the war...Which is a huge funnel of money and resources. Who put the sadam regime in place? We did... Who helped oust the Russians from Afghanistan only to allow the taliban to come to power? We did...So who is cleaning up the mess? We are...You can't tell me the war doesn't put strain on the economy. Don't get me wrong, I know that the changes were needed now but if we would have done the right thing in the first place(after the Russians pulled out, it would have been much easier to move a democracy in then instead of now, afterall we were vital to that conflict), who knows....hindsight.... It is funny how all things are relative.

That’s our standard operating procedure, go in, clean house; leave a vacuum, vacuum gets filled with worse than was there before. We do it over and over again with the same results. And now everyone wants to leave another vacuum in Iraq. Go for it, it's only going to get worse. Hopefully I won't live long enough to have to deal with the consequences of yet another of our short sighted screw ups.

There have been how many hearings now for anti-trust against the US oil makers and they have found n o n e .

Do you really think anyone with the power to manipulate worldwide oil markets doesn’t have to power to avoid prosecution?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Do you really think anyone with the power to manipulate worldwide oil markets doesn’t have to power to avoid prosecution?

Can you say Enron?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

That’s our standard operating procedure, go in, clean house; leave a vacuum, vacuum gets filled with worse than was there before. We do it over and over again with the same results. And now everyone wants to leave another vacuum in Iraq. Go for it, it's only going to get worse. Hopefully I won't live long enough to have to deal with the consequences of yet another of our short sighted screw ups.

Agree lately. (We didn't after WWII.) That one of the reasons we can't get other contries to help because they think we are going to bail on them. They can't trust us.

[Bug Lover]

Do you really think anyone with the power to manipulate worldwide oil markets doesn’t have to power to avoid prosecution?

The only people with the power to manipulate the worldwide oil markets are the people who run OPEC. I have never heard of any U.S. oil company being part of OPEC and those that I know are in OPEC are not subject to U.S. laws. Before you make comments (or questions) like that, make sure you have your facts straight.

[BrdWAtti2d]

The only people with the power to manipulate the worldwide oil markets are the people who run OPEC. I have never heard of any U.S. oil company being part of OPEC and those that I know are in OPEC are not subject to U.S. laws. Before you make comments (or questions) like that, make sure you have your facts straight.

The speculators are doing it as we speak. The congressional record isn't factual enough for you?

Can you say Enron?

BINGO! They got away with it for 70 years and probably still would if the bankruptcy court hadn’t gotten involved.

Agree lately. (We didn't after WWII.) That one of the reasons we can't get other contries to help because they think we are going to bail on them. They can't trust us.

Exactly, we have lost or stomach to follow through on things that aren't instant.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

The speculators are doing it as we speak. The congressional record isn't factual enough for you?

You need to read this. You have fallen for the hype of blaming the speculators.
http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/080508/050..._oil.html?.v=3

[BrdWAtti2d]

I don't debate the fact our dependence on oil is driving the price up. If we didn't buy it a gallon of gas would be 5 cents. What everyone is missing is that the price is being artificially inflated. Did the demand rise by 50% in the last year? Yes demand went up and the price should go up accordingly. That didn't happen. Why?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I don't debate the fact our dependence on oil is driving the price up. If we didn't buy it a gallon of gas would be 5 cents. What everyone is missing is that the price is being artificially inflated. Did the demand rise by 50% in the last year? Yes demand went up and the price should go up accordingly. That didn't happen. Why?

Last night I won my first attemp at buying something on Ebay. The seller had 3 of the same items in a different color. I noticed the same people were bidding on all 3 items. Did that person have 3 corvettes all in different colors? Of coarse not. He was trying to buy something that he thought he could sell later for more money and keep the difference. That is what is happening with crude oil. That is the way the free market works. Youa re just mad because it is something you need and it effects how much you pay for it.

[BrdWAtti2d]

Hell yea I'm mad, we should all be mad, and no it's effecting EVERYTHING I buy.

Funny this seems to contradict the fact that OPEC wants prices higher, I guess Mohamed Al Hamli is some kind of "mavrick".

Mohamed Al Hamli, energy minister for the United Arab Emirates, warned $200 oil would cause serious damage to the world economy.
"I think $200 is too much, especially for the emerging markets to handle," he said.
When pressed to say how high oil prices could go, he replied: "Around the current levels is probably a reasonable guess."

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Hell yea I'm mad, we should all be mad, and no it's effecting EVERYTHING I buy.

Funny this seems to contradict the fact that OPEC wants prices higher, I guess Mohamed Al Hamli is some kind of "mavrick".

Mohamed Al Hamli, energy minister for the United Arab Emirates, warned $200 oil would cause serious damage to the world economy.
"I think $200 is too much, especially for the emerging markets to handle," he said.
When pressed to say how high oil prices could go, he replied: "Around the current levels is probably a reasonable guess."

It's OK to be mad and I don't blame you hell I'm mad too but you are blaming the wrong people for it.

Look you can not blame the people selling anything for getting the most money they can for it. That is the basis of capitalism. You do it too.

The system we have is capitalism. You have to learn to manipulate the system. There are 2 ways to reduce the price in a capitalistic system, reduce the demand or increase the supply. There isn't an alternative to oil that is practical today. Tomorrow there won't be either. It is going to be several to many years before they are viable alternatives. That means the only other thing is to increase the supply. Right now there is a major road block in the congress and senate to that. The people you should be mad at are the people who are not allowing us to drill for more oil to increase the supply.

[BrdWAtti2d]

OMG we are just going in circles here. Capitalism works when there is "free trade". This isn't free trade it's manipulation of the markets. If I did that I'd go to jail. Ask Martha Stewart. I'm done beleive what you want.

[Bug Lover]

The speculators are doing it as we speak. The congressional record isn't factual enough for you?

Speculation is a form a gambling, just like investing in the stock market. The people who are doing the speculating are "guessing" at how much the price of oil is going to go up. If oil prices go up and they have guessed right, they are in good shape. If oil prices go down, there are a lot of people that are going to lose their job.

Think about it like an auction. Someone puts a car up for sale that might be worth $20,000, but there is only one car like it and there are two people bidding on the car that really want it and will pay anything to get it. So, the price goes up until one of the two gives up, but the one who gets it pays $100,000. It isn't worth that to you, but it is to him.

So, right now, the U.S. needs oil and so do several other countries with China being a fast-growing consumer of oil. So we are bidding on something that we consider vital to our economy, but so are the speculators from all the other countries. The person who wants it the most is going to pay more. The only fault in that is that we are so reliant on oil for our economy.

BINGO! They got away with it for 70 years and probably still would if the bankruptcy court hadn’t gotten involved.

Again with the facts – the people who ran the company 70 years ago that was to become Enron are probably long since dead, so you really can’t say if they were doing things that weren’t legal (or ethical) that far back. From what I have read, it appears that Enron didn’t really get started into their fraudulent ways until the mid-1990s and much of that was due to accounting and bookkeeping practices. “Full Disclosure” is not something they were particularly good at doing back then. The way the accounting was set up, all the companies that were losing money were “offshore” and that information didn’t have to be reported on the public financials.

I don't debate the fact our dependence on oil is driving the price up. If we didn't buy it a gallon of gas would be 5 cents. What everyone is missing is that the price is being artificially inflated. Did the demand rise by 50% in the last year? Yes demand went up and the price should go up accordingly. That didn't happen. Why?

Keep in mind that this increase may be more like a market correction - the price of gas, bread, milk, eggs and a lot of other things we consider necessities of life haven't kept up with inflation in the last 80 to 100 years, even though the demand has increased.

[Steel2686]

I don't debate the fact our dependence on oil is driving the price up. If we didn't buy it a gallon of gas would be 5 cents. What everyone is missing is that the price is being artificially inflated. Did the demand rise by 50% in the last year? Yes demand went up and the price should go up accordingly. That didn't happen. Why?

I agree with this statement right here. Demand definitely drives up oil prices, but our demand didn't go up that much in a year... a month... a week even.

Speculators aren't fully responsible... But they are partially to blame. Why would crude oil be bought up in attempts to resell it for more? Because speculators have reported worries of oil reaching $200 a barrel. If I had the means, I would certainly buy as much as possible with market experts predicting record highs. Even at $150 a barrel, that's a 25% profit in just a few months. Who wouldn't?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

OMG we are just going in circles here. Capitalisum works when there is "free trade". This isn't free trade it's manipulation of the markets. If I did that I'd go to jail. Ask Martha Stewart. I'm done beleive what you want.

I will and you obviously will too. You go ahead and keep blaming the speculators and the sheiks and let me know how that works for you. Me, I am calling my congressman and senators and telling them to get off their a$$ and pass a bill to start drilling NOW. We'll see which method works. Well with the democrats in control neither will work.