May 23, 2008
I have been following this folly for a long time. My previous 2 articles (September and November 2007) follow this introduction. I watched, waited and hoped that someone in Washington would take action. NO! Instead we got the usual suspects (Senator Schumer for one) holding a press conference and demanding that Saudi Arabia increase production or the Senate will hold up their arms shipment. Another suggestion was to create a gas tax holiday. What disgusts me most is that they all know what the problem is but because of the special interest money that comes their way from the manipulators, they all look the other way.
This is not a supply and demand problem. The Saudi’s are not stupid, if they can get $130 a barrel for oil, they’ll drill and pump as fast as they can and why not. No, the problem is here at home. Oil is a speculator’s dream come true. A “hands off” market with guaranteed profits to all involved. When the Federal Reserve bailed out Wall Street with new money and lot’s of it at a mere 2% interest rate, a good percentage of that money has gone into buying “crude oil futures” which can then be used as collateral for loans or to cover losses on their books.
My question is: At what point does the President of the United States step forward in the interests of the people? Not a word from Mr. Bush and no wonder, he’s an oil baron first and foremost and that makes him part of the problem.
Oil: Stop the Greed Now!
November 6, 2007
$100 for a barrel of oil? Yes, I saw it coming and there’s more pain at the pump to come. My question is: At what point does OUR government step in to put a stop to the rising cost of energy? It’s not a supply and demand problem; it’s simply a matter of greed on the part of the oil companies and the commodity speculators on Wall Street. If Washington had some guts, which I doubt because they are part of the problem, they could put a halt to the trading of oil and gasoline futures. But, that won’t happen because money talks and now that the housing bubble has burst, hedge funds are moving their money into energy futures and, they want big returns for their deep pocket investors. So what do they do … they run up the price of oil and who pays the price … WE DO. Finally, at a time when we really need the media to come to our aid … where are they?
The following is a reprint of my September 14, 2007 article
Crude Oil: The Next Bubble
September 14, 2007
Hedge funds, in search of creating “another bubble” have turned their attention to the commodities market in general and oil in particular. Yesterday, they gang traded crude oil with a vengeance to push its price through the $80 ceiling, raising alarms of higher oil prices in the $90/100 range. The funds, armed with fresh cash obtained by institutions from the Federal Reserve’s rescue moves two weeks ago, waged a new speculative assault on crude. Speculators are attracted because crude’s at a new high and will go on hitting new highs. The rule on Wall Street is “Buy high and sell even higher.” Crude oil at these levels is not an argument for “supply and demand” but rather plain old fashion greed. If Washington doesn’t act and soon, homeowners who use heating oil, face a doubling of their heating bills this year.
Government intervention takes guts so it won’t happen – WHAT needs to be done? In order to prevent yet another bubble aimed at consumers (see the housing market bubble); someone has to step forward to stop the speculation in the crude oil markets by suspending trading in crude oil futures. If not, expect the price of crude to hit $100.
2 comments on Oil Prices: WHY?
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Having lived through the energy crisis in the 1970s I have been amazed at the lack of progress our nation has made to becoming energy independent. I know there are people who points to the oil companies as causing our problem but in reality it us. We have allowed and in some cases demanded that our elected officials turn their backs on alternatives to petroleum.
We have for the most part turned our back on atomic energy while other countries have em brassed it. In fact Iran a petroleum rich country is actively pursuing this technology. Our own navy has been powering most of our fleet with this technology for most of the last three decades.
We have played with both solar and wind which are the less intrusive to our environment. But even the use of wind is met with resistance since it is an eye sore.
While this nation does have petroleum reserves of it's own we are reluctant to harvest them. It is estimated that technically recoverable oil within the ANWR 1002 area (excluding State and Native areas) is estimated to be between 4.3 and 11.8 Billion barrels. Our politicians tell us this is a drop in the bucket but consider the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as of April 29, 2008, inventory was 701.3 Million barrels. This is not considering what reserves we have laying beneath the continental shelves.
What we need is for the President and Congress to do is announce a “going to the moon” like project to have the United States become energy independent by 2013. This would accomplish the following:
Spur U.S. research and technology jobs
Employ construction workers and other labor intensive jobs
Revitalize heavy industry within the rust belt
Decrease foreign influence over time
Decrease pollution of our environment
But to do this we need to be ready to put politics aside. This is not a red or blue issue but a red, white and blue issue. If we do not undertake this effort we will remain a hostage of OPEC and our grandchildren will have to deal with this issue. If you agree, please write your elected officials and the candidates today and let them know your thoughts.
We have lost our respect around the world as a nation that was once so highly regarded as the land of opportunity. In short, we have sold out our our country to special interests groups. The once mighty dollar is no longer our pride and joy but rather a symbol of greed and corruption. I agree with you that this is not a red or blue issue but a red, white and blue issue. To quote Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."