Cheney & Dubya's friends have been busy recouping recent losses at your expense.
Don't you just love how Dubya's flavor of 'Deregulation' is saving you money!....
Gas-Pump Gouging; Just Don't Blame The Saudis
By Mike Whitney
24/06/08 "ICH" -- -- I've seen this bad movie before. It's the Enron movie, which hit the West Coast power-markets like a bomb because the federal government was asleep at the switch. Now it's happening again with oil prices." Rep. Jay Inslee D-WA
There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn't mean we're not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today's gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation; rampant, "unregulated" speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed with excruciating precision by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil.
MarketWatch summed it up like this on Monday:
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Speculators now account for about 70% of all benchmark crude-oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 37% in 2000, according to congressional findings cited in a Wall Street Journal report Monday. The report comes ahead of a House oversight subcommittee hearing slated for later Monday on Capitol Hill to study the role of financial investors in the crude futures market. There has been much discussion recently about how big a role so-called speculators have been playing in the sharp rise in energy prices, though no consensus has emerged on this point.
Congress, however, has grown increasingly concerned over speculative investors' role in the energy market in comparison with those buying futures contracts to hedge against risk from price changes. Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to set strict limits -- or in some cases, an outright ban -- on speculative trading in energy futures in some markets, the Journal reported.
In 1991, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorized the first exemption from position limits for swap dealers with no physical commodity exposure, the report said. This began what Dingell said was "A PROCESS THAT HAS ENABLED INVESTMENT BANKS TO ACCUMULATE ENORMOUS POSITIONS IN COMMODITY MARKETS," according to the report. (MarketWatch)
So its not really Big Oil or "greedy Arabs" after all? Nope, it's the cutthroat banksters again.
WHAT HAPPENED IN JIDDAH
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah convened an emergency Oil Summit in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia to deal with the disastrous effects that oil prices were having on the global economy. Rising prices are responsible for everything from food riots in Haiti to truckers strikes in Spain, Portugal and France. US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman delivered a prepared statement supporting the Bush administration's position on the issue:
"Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept pace with growing demand for oil, resulting in increasing -- and increasingly volatile -- prices. Even despite higher global production for oil so far this year, inventories have been drawn down and current world production (spare) capacity is below historic levels -- at fewer than two million barrels per day."
Baloney.
Demand is not out-pacing supply. That's a myth started by the people who are profiting by betting up oil futures; investment bankers. They're led by their chief defender and former G-Sax scalawag, Henry Paulson.
Consider the remarks of Philip Davis in a recent post at Seeking Alpha:
"Now we have the Saudi oil summit this weekend and Saudi Arabia took 1.5M barrels a day off-line since July of ‘05 in a series of cuts and is currently producing just over 8Mbd out of their estimated 10.5Mbd maximum capacity. It is forecast by the EIA that next year OPEC alone will have over 3Mbd of spare capacity so this would be a terrible time for global demand to take a nose dive or there are going to be a lot of idle wells… Should global demand drop another 5% in the next 12 months, we could be looking at 8Mbd less demand than there was just a year ago.
As the London Telegraph points out, not only does OPEC have a current production surplus of 2M barrels a day but that surplus will rise to 3.5M barrels a day BY NEXT YEAR. Also, non-OPEC production is rising fast with a 1.5Mb gain in non-OPEC production coming down the pike next year. ...Iraq, by the way, is no longer included as OPEC or non-OPEC production, a very clever way to hide 2.4 million barrels of production by the energy apologists." (Philip Davis, "The Oil Shortage, and Other fairy Tales" Seeking Alpha) http://seekingalpha.com/article/78440-the-oil-shortage-and-other-fairy-tales
There's no shortage, no scarcity. In fact, oil is being deliberately kept off the market to keep prices high. Consider this: if supply isn't keeping up with demand then why aren't there any lines at the gas stations like there were during the '70s?
Because it's all a fabrication. Prices are up because of speculation; that's all.
Here's what Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah's said on Sunday: "Among other factors behind this unjust increase in oil prices is the abhorrent acts of speculators seeking to undermine the market." That's why he called the meeting to begin with. The King insists that "speculators" have played a key role." (AFP)
How about Kuwait?
The Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammed al-Olaim insisted that "there is enough oil to supply the market....We believe that the market is in equilibrium. The price is disconnected from fundamentals. It is not a problem of supply. Why would you have a supply problem WHEN DEMAND IS GOING DOWN". (AP)
Of course, demand goes down in a recession.
What about Libya?
"We believe speculation has its impact," the OPEC chief said. Libya may reduce its oil production because THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH OIL ON THE MARKET Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem said. "We may have to cut production.... We don't see any need for more oil. There is plenty of oil in the market,'' Ghanem said, commenting on Saudi Arabia's decision. (Bloomberg News)
How about Iraq? Can we at least count on our brothers in Iraq to maintain the administration's falsehoods about supply problems?
According to Reuters: Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said, "Any increase in world oil output would not have a significant impact on record-high crude prices that are being driven by speculation... Regulations needed to be introduced to stabilize oil markets. I do not think increasing any amount in the international market will have a significant impact on the prices. It is up to the stock exchange and the regulations in the industrialized nations. It is not something OPEC can contribute to. We did not see any impact on the prices from the Saudi's previous increase." (Reuters)
[More]
Don't you just love how Dubya's flavor of 'Deregulation' is saving you money!....
Gas-Pump Gouging; Just Don't Blame The Saudis
By Mike Whitney
24/06/08 "ICH" -- -- I've seen this bad movie before. It's the Enron movie, which hit the West Coast power-markets like a bomb because the federal government was asleep at the switch. Now it's happening again with oil prices." Rep. Jay Inslee D-WA
There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn't mean we're not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today's gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation; rampant, "unregulated" speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed with excruciating precision by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil.
MarketWatch summed it up like this on Monday:
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Speculators now account for about 70% of all benchmark crude-oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 37% in 2000, according to congressional findings cited in a Wall Street Journal report Monday. The report comes ahead of a House oversight subcommittee hearing slated for later Monday on Capitol Hill to study the role of financial investors in the crude futures market. There has been much discussion recently about how big a role so-called speculators have been playing in the sharp rise in energy prices, though no consensus has emerged on this point.
Congress, however, has grown increasingly concerned over speculative investors' role in the energy market in comparison with those buying futures contracts to hedge against risk from price changes. Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to set strict limits -- or in some cases, an outright ban -- on speculative trading in energy futures in some markets, the Journal reported.
In 1991, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorized the first exemption from position limits for swap dealers with no physical commodity exposure, the report said. This began what Dingell said was "A PROCESS THAT HAS ENABLED INVESTMENT BANKS TO ACCUMULATE ENORMOUS POSITIONS IN COMMODITY MARKETS," according to the report. (MarketWatch)
So its not really Big Oil or "greedy Arabs" after all? Nope, it's the cutthroat banksters again.
WHAT HAPPENED IN JIDDAH
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah convened an emergency Oil Summit in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia to deal with the disastrous effects that oil prices were having on the global economy. Rising prices are responsible for everything from food riots in Haiti to truckers strikes in Spain, Portugal and France. US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman delivered a prepared statement supporting the Bush administration's position on the issue:
"Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept pace with growing demand for oil, resulting in increasing -- and increasingly volatile -- prices. Even despite higher global production for oil so far this year, inventories have been drawn down and current world production (spare) capacity is below historic levels -- at fewer than two million barrels per day."
Baloney.
Demand is not out-pacing supply. That's a myth started by the people who are profiting by betting up oil futures; investment bankers. They're led by their chief defender and former G-Sax scalawag, Henry Paulson.
Consider the remarks of Philip Davis in a recent post at Seeking Alpha:
"Now we have the Saudi oil summit this weekend and Saudi Arabia took 1.5M barrels a day off-line since July of ‘05 in a series of cuts and is currently producing just over 8Mbd out of their estimated 10.5Mbd maximum capacity. It is forecast by the EIA that next year OPEC alone will have over 3Mbd of spare capacity so this would be a terrible time for global demand to take a nose dive or there are going to be a lot of idle wells… Should global demand drop another 5% in the next 12 months, we could be looking at 8Mbd less demand than there was just a year ago.
As the London Telegraph points out, not only does OPEC have a current production surplus of 2M barrels a day but that surplus will rise to 3.5M barrels a day BY NEXT YEAR. Also, non-OPEC production is rising fast with a 1.5Mb gain in non-OPEC production coming down the pike next year. ...Iraq, by the way, is no longer included as OPEC or non-OPEC production, a very clever way to hide 2.4 million barrels of production by the energy apologists." (Philip Davis, "The Oil Shortage, and Other fairy Tales" Seeking Alpha) http://seekingalpha.com/article/78440-the-oil-shortage-and-other-fairy-tales
There's no shortage, no scarcity. In fact, oil is being deliberately kept off the market to keep prices high. Consider this: if supply isn't keeping up with demand then why aren't there any lines at the gas stations like there were during the '70s?
Because it's all a fabrication. Prices are up because of speculation; that's all.
Here's what Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah's said on Sunday: "Among other factors behind this unjust increase in oil prices is the abhorrent acts of speculators seeking to undermine the market." That's why he called the meeting to begin with. The King insists that "speculators" have played a key role." (AFP)
How about Kuwait?
The Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammed al-Olaim insisted that "there is enough oil to supply the market....We believe that the market is in equilibrium. The price is disconnected from fundamentals. It is not a problem of supply. Why would you have a supply problem WHEN DEMAND IS GOING DOWN". (AP)
Of course, demand goes down in a recession.
What about Libya?
"We believe speculation has its impact," the OPEC chief said. Libya may reduce its oil production because THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH OIL ON THE MARKET Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem said. "We may have to cut production.... We don't see any need for more oil. There is plenty of oil in the market,'' Ghanem said, commenting on Saudi Arabia's decision. (Bloomberg News)
How about Iraq? Can we at least count on our brothers in Iraq to maintain the administration's falsehoods about supply problems?
According to Reuters: Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said, "Any increase in world oil output would not have a significant impact on record-high crude prices that are being driven by speculation... Regulations needed to be introduced to stabilize oil markets. I do not think increasing any amount in the international market will have a significant impact on the prices. It is up to the stock exchange and the regulations in the industrialized nations. It is not something OPEC can contribute to. We did not see any impact on the prices from the Saudi's previous increase." (Reuters)
[More]
