posted March 28, 2011 05:10 PM            

quote:

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Those least able to absorb the rising costs of everything they buy...including food.

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posted March 29, 2011 09:32 AM            

There are many people who make their livings from delivering papers and/or analysis on various subjects most of them absolutely wrong. For instance on the subject of what is causing oil and gasoline prices to skyrocket, opinions abound and many contradict each other. For some of these pundits, it's all about politics and protecting O'Bomber from criticism from the results of his disastrous policies and especially his so called energy policy.

Fact check is one of those who still drool at the mention of O'Bomber's name. As the political arm of the St. Petersburg Times which endorsed Bomber and gave him millions in free political advertising in the form of favorable articles, no reasonable person should accept a word they say as being anywhere near the truth.

The fact is that markets react predictably to news and the oil markets are no different. Supply and demand drive market prices within an arena where the hope for gain and the fear of loss are active players in the minds of producers and commodity brokers.

So, when I said..years ago..that when it appeared to oil producers and brokers that America was serious about producing more of our own oil to power our economy, oil prices would fall.

Bush lifted the offshore drilling moratorium and crude prices fell from $149 per barrel to $34.

Oil producers had been attempting to control oil supplies by restricting their production to drive up crude oil prices. Oil brokers had been bidding up oil futures prices and making wild predictions of $200 per barrel crude. These are examples of the "hope for gain".

But then, Bush said Drill and the fear of loss set in immediately.

Did oil producers want to see their largest customer in the world cut back on purchases of their product. Hell no. As had happened in the past when it appeared America would get serious about cutting dependency on foreign produced oil, they increased production to create more supply which lowers prices. Perhaps America would change it's mind...as we had in the past.

Brokers had been bidding up the price of crude oil in "future contracts" which they bought. A drop in crude oil prices would be a financial disaster for them. They did the logical thing and began selling off their future contracts at ever lower prices. The reason they did is simple. On a day certain..in the future...they were going to have to take delivery of 1000 barrels of crude oil per futures contract...at the high price stipulated in their contracts. Imagine the loss on contracts they bought at $120-$130-$140 per barrel when crude prices fall out of the sky to well below what they were going to have to pay on the day of contract settlement! Not only that, but who are they going to sell all that high priced oil to when the market price is...say $50 per barrel...and it went lower than that...all the way down to $34 per barrel.

That's a very BIG fear of loss.

So, the only conclusion worth noting is that which proved to be true and stood the test of time. What I said would happen..DID happen.

But now, O'Bomber has reversed Bush policy. Now, oil producers and brokers know O'Bomber is actively blocking American oil production..saying NO to American production. It's enough to warm the hearts of foreign oil producers and brokers.

The result is again, predictable.

Skyrocketing crude oil and gasoline prices thanks to Barack Hussein O'Bomber.

How do you think Americans are going to react to $4-$5-$6 or $7 per gallon gasoline when they find out America has more oil, natural gas, coal and oil shale from which to produce gasoline and electricity than most of the rest of the world...combined!

posted March 31, 2011 02:04 PM            

The O'Bomber administration is blocking oil companies ability to drill by refusing to issue "permits".

So, O'Bomber can lie through his teeth all he wants but the reality is that a de-facto drilling moratorium is still in effect.

Further, high gas prices are right in line with O'Bomber's disastrous energy policy. So is the hiring of O'Bomber's Chief Energy Adviser, Steven Chu. Steven Chu has said American gas prices need to rise to the level of European gas prices.

In most European nations, the price of gasoline is about $10 per gallon.

November 2, 2012 cannot come too soon so we can throw these Marxist Socialist economy destroying bums out of office.

Flashback: Obama’s top energy aide advocated for $10-a-gallon gas prices
By Amanda Carey - The Daily Caller Published: 1:05 PM 03/30/2011 | Updated: 12:27 AM 03/31/2011

During a speech in Washington Wednesday on the need to secure the country’s energy security, President Obama told Americans not to worry: “We’ve been down this road before.”

“Remember, it was just three years ago that gas prices topped $4 a gallon,” said Obama. “Working folks haven’t forgotten that. It hit a lot of people pretty hard … So here’s the bottom line – there are no quick fixes.”

The president’s speech comes after weeks of rising oil prices and outrage over the administration’s de facto moratorium on offshore drilling. But while Obama talked about the need to produce more oil domestically to help ease the pain at the pump, his chief energy adviser has a history of advocating for high gas prices, once saying, “coal is my worst nightmare.”

As director of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Steven Chu, Obama’s secretary at the Department of Energy, said in an interview that gas taxes should slowly be increased over the next 15 years in order to force people to turn to alternative energy sources.

“Somehow, we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to levels in Europe,” said Chu.

In Europe, the price for a gallon of gas consistently hovers around $10 a gallon.

Moreover, as Obama called for increased domestic production, he simultaneously chided the oil industry for sitting on “tens of millions of acres of leases” that are going undeveloped. “We are pushing the oil industry to take advantage of the opportunities they already have,” said Obama.

The president’s rebuke of the industry is based on a report produced Tuesday by the Department of Interior (DOI) that slams oil companies for ignoring current leases and labeled two-thirds of the Gulf of Mexico “inactive.” Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, however, the report, produced at the president’s request, is misleading in more ways than one as it tries to defend the administration’s energy policies.

“To be blunt, this report flat-out invents the inactive definition used to label two-thirds of Gulf leases as inactive,” said Republican Rep. Doc Hastings, chair of the Natural Resources Committee during a hearing with Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Michael Bromwich. This definition of inactive doesn’t exist in law or regulation.”

Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee reacted to the DOI report by saying, “It is not correct for this administration to blame energy producers for our lack of energy production. Abandoned rigs sit idle in the Gulf of Mexico … yet this administration continues to slow-walk or stall entirely the permits needed to jump-start safe domestic promotions.”

Now, critics point to the fact the administration tapped Chu to be energy secretary after advocating high gas prices, and yesterday’s DOI report as proof the administration has no standing when it comes to solving an oil crisis.

posted May 06, 2011 11:55 PM            

Predictably, crude oil prices fell the most for any day in the past 2 years.

May 06, 2011
Government action to reduce prices at the pump
Bruce Walker

A very simple cause and effect was observable yesterday. The House passed a bill to force the administration to sell offshore drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Virginia coast, and the price of oil fell 8.6% in one day, the largest drop in over two years!

posted May 07, 2011 12:30 PM            

i suspect the fall off in consumption had a little to do with it, and talk of investigations into gouging probably didn't hurt either.

posted May 07, 2011 01:37 PM            

Bush said Drill...and oil prices went from $149 a barrel to only $34...and rather quickly.

So, if you were talking about it a month ago, I wouldn't have been the one to...poopooh the idea.

O'Bomber has already intervened in the oil markets by taking American supply offline.

posted May 07, 2011 03:36 PM            

Futures markets, oil futures are forward looking. Contracts expire on a day certain...in the future.

Anything which threatens an oil futures contract holder's position causes a quick reaction.

When the House passed that bill to force O'Bomber to issue drilling permits for the Gulf and east coast, that action threatened all futures contract holders positions which were betting on higher oil prices. Their reaction was swift indeed and they started a sell off which drove the price down more than $8 per barrel in a single day.

We are most certainly not drilling enough oil wells, developing enough oil fields or extracting enough oil to supply anywhere near what we need. More than 60% of the oil we use comes from foreign suppliers.

posted May 07, 2011 06:24 PM            

as we well know the current House passing anything doesn't amount to codswallop unless one expects the senate and prez to go the same way, which so far has been deemed "unlikely" in most cases. so the "futures" men have no reason, unless they believe they have the senate and/or president in their pockets, to believe that a vote in the house means a done deal.

and seeing as any new drilling will take years to yield competitive supplies, NO reason for such speculations to alter the price of gas next week.

have we switched places? where's your faith in the "free market" dealing with all issues? people sat on their cash at the pumps in anger/despair/rebellion...the government didn't have to do a thing.

or are you all for the government intervening when they do what YOU want them to do?

posted May 07, 2011 06:48 PM            

or vermont where people also live completely off the grid and use no oil for their home energy needs..

you've been sold a crock by the oil companies that there are no alternatives, my man, but do hug it as long as you can. meanwhile THEY (the oil companies) are investing in "clean" "renewable" energy...

posted May 07, 2011 08:43 PM            

Additionally, why in the hell would I expect Joe and Sally Blow to help pay for my solar array through subsidies and rebates?

There are no alternatives for oil, natural gas and coal. Nothing on the near or far horizon that's anywhere near competitive. Anyone who's pushing the alternative energy twaddle is just full of it....as about a trillion dollars down the toilet of wind and solar energy power research attest.

The United States is the number one nation on earth in energy resources. Second place is way, way, way back.

posted May 07, 2011 08:47 PM            

and, if you don't like solar much, i heard recently about new technology that reflects human body heat back into a room without any batteries or fuel at all...in norway, where the sun don't shine even in daytime in winter!

posted May 09, 2011 11:39 AM            

In other words, the federal government is subsidizing their operations at taxpayer expense and...it's taxpayer money down the rat hole of crackpot ambitions. The crackpots being O'Bomber, his so called "Science Czar", "Energy Czar, crackpots in the Congress and crackpots in the so called environmental movement...the "greens".

The federal government is also paying farmers a subsidy to grow corn for ethanol production and paying oil companies to blend their gasoline with ethanol. Meanwhile, they're skyrocketing the price of corn, wheat, rice, beef, pork, chicken...and, as a consequence, driving the poorest in the world into virtual starvation, because they can't afford their basic foodstuffs.

Nice going!

Another thing.

Many Americans are not going to be able to pay their electric bills when this high priced electricity produced from Solar and Wind comes online. It's totally uncompetitive when compared to oil, natural gas, hydroelectric, nuclear and coal.

Of course, O'Bomber promised to skyrocket electricity costs.

posted May 11, 2011 03:59 PM            

and after a couple of days where the price fell by about a nickel a gallon (after shooting up at least ten times that much in a couple of months!) it is now going up again!

because

with the flooding mississippi heading towards several refineries they are covering their butts even before "disaster" strikes production capabilities.

again, the AMOUNT OF DRILLING is not really the problem, is it?

posted May 11, 2011 04:03 PM            

not saying everyone in the stockmarket is a crook, so please don't get defensive anyone. i had a lifelong family friend on wall street and his son is now following in his footsteps.