Posted on 09/26/2006 6:56:37 AM PDT by ShadowDancer
Doesn't it ever bother you that you believe something is occuring for which no known mechanism (manipulation of the price of crude on the global scale) has ever been plausibly identified and which really on the face of it is ridiculously implausible?
Do you have any plausible explanation on exactly HOW the GOP is manipulating this market? And if they are controlling the prices, what reason did they have for raising it so high the last few months?
These are the same people who voted for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry.
Storage was a record highs while the price was running up.
Holy cow, I heard the same thing! LOL ...
Here's your answer.
Everybody believes things happen or have happend that they don't have all of the answers to.
If Republicans have the power to manipulate gas prices, I definitely want them to win.
"If Dick Cheney runs for President in 2008, they'll be giving away a free handgun with every tankful just to get you to come in and fill up"
I was hoping for a Berreta 28 gauge O/U or semi-auto.
The sure was a good economic reason: the hurricane forecast. The people who were trading the futures saw that forecast and ran up the price in anticipation of a supply shortage. In their defense, if the forecast had been accurate they would have made gobs of money selling those $75 contacts at $100 a pop.
The problem with your stated belief is that there has never been any possible mechanism for anybody to do what you are alleging they are doing.
Not you. Not a single expert in the field. Not a single human being beyond moonbat psychos can even envision a hypothetical method by which it would even be possible, let alone demonstrated a real world application of this alleged power.
It can't be done. It is impossible not because Republican are in power and I like them. It is impossible because it can't be done.
Bush isn't controlling the global price of crude. Clinton didn't control the global price of crude. Reagan, Carter, Nixon or Ford didn't control the global price of crude.
The market controls the global price of crude. But you can believe Bush is doing it, if you want.
That's just not true. Speculators impact the price. Opec cotrols the price. Our administration impacts the price. The fed reserve impacts the price. Storage numbers impact the price. Spin and prognostiators impact the price. Supply and demand has litte to do with it. The proof is in the fact that oil rose to an all time high while having alltime high storage numbers.
Hey dead..... wanna make a bet? I'll bet you a $10 contribution to freerepublic that OPEC does not cut production before the election. And that they do cut production before the end of the year. Want to bet? :)
What controls the price of crude, and has done for years, is the worldwide excess daily production capacity, as measured in bbl-equivalents. This past January, this figure fell to 0.65 MM bbl/day, down over 6 MM bbl/day from 4 years earlier. That's not enough of a cushion for ANY decent-sized supply interruption, and demand was therefore pushed sharply forward, as numerous large users felt they had to insure supply for the medium term. Result? Prices went bazoo.
The daily excess cap figure has rebounded somewhat, to about 1.72-1.76 MM bbl/day. Prices have accordingly relaxed considerably, and will do so further if the excap figure continues to rise (which yr hmbl srvnt believes it will do, slowly).
Interesting sidebar to this. With on-hand supplies of crude being well more than ample, any production cut will have -- after the inevitable Nervous Nellie spike by the Chicken Littles of the world -- the net effect of lowering crude prices worldwide. Why? Because the crude is still there, still available, and will be counted as part of the excap figure.
Let OPEC cut (notionally, of course; their use of 'cut' is rather like Xlinton's use of 'is') 1 MM bbl/day. 90 days hence, with excap at 2.7 MM bbl/day or thereabouts, crude will be $5-$8 lower.
That's just not true. Speculators impact the price. Opec cotrols the price. Our administration impacts the price. The fed reserve impacts the price. Storage numbers impact the price. Spin and prognostiators impact the price. Supply and demand has litte to do with it. The proof is in the fact that oil rose to an all time high while having alltime high storage numbers.
Speculators are part of the market. Spin and prognostication are part of the market. But speculators speculate and hope to profit from their guesses. Their guesses can have some effect on the market, but they dont control that effect. They just hope the speculate correctly.
OPEC has their hands on the levers that can control a portion of supply which will affect cost via the market. But the levers on any domestic production of oil is not in the hands of the GOP or the Administration. There has been no evidence that American producers are under GOP control and they have exhibited no actions that appear to be geared towards price manipulation regarding this or any other election cycle and if they did it would be illegal, easily detected, and ineffective.
There has been no evidence that OPEC is manipulating the market to help Republicans. Given the fact that OPEC is largely run by muslims and Venezuela, the concept is absurd.
There is no plausible way to secretly control the markets. If OPEC wanted to shut down or severly trim production, they could drive prices up, but even they couldnt control the effect on their own profit margins. In addition, such actions would be transparent and most likely bring economic hardship down on them. It is not currently happening, obviously.
Generally, newspapers make up their own headlines.
The problem with the FR search feature is that it isn't deep enough (which would make it slow, of course.
My guess would be because editors usually create the headlines for the stories.
You're giving yourself a pretty tight window there.
Gee, I think you are BOTH right! Yes, the market controls the price, but speculators, Kim Jong Il, Red China, Hugo Chavez and even George W. are part of that market. Oil was sky high with large stores because Iran was taking a threatening posture. One major flare up, and the speculators take a windfall. As it is, they should be taking a bit of a beating right now. When George W. talks about alternative energy incentives and new regulations, that has an effect on things, too.
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