Posted on 03/31/2010 6:17:26 AM PDT by tobyhill
Oil prices have steadily rose over the last year, and experts are worrying further increases could snuff out an already-fragile global economic recovery.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce Wednesday his plan to open oil and natural gas drilling off the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico. The proposal aims to reduce the nations reliance on foreign oil, which theoretically could hold down prices for U.S. consumers.
OPEC countries also are convening in Mexico this week to map out a strategy for keeping prices from rising higher.
But officials may face an even bigger problem: The recent rise in prices seems to be driven by Wall Street investors not market supply and demand.
Though prices crashed from their peak of $140 a barrel before the recession began in December 2007, they have since recovered substantially. Last year, the price of crude fell to $33 a barrel before a relentless recovery to about $80 by year-end.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
+1
I love how ‘speculation’ has become a dirty word. Everything in commerce is speculation.. Eliminate speculation, you eliminate capitalism.
CO2 Ex order is coming late this week! That is what yhe hidden hand was doing! We have to vote BIG in November to get rid of Obama’s power! I hate that BASTARD!
“You trust that Bastard? I dont!! Watch the other hand!”
The community disorganizer in action:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2469614/posts
long term....the Democrats definitly want $10 gas.
short term....driving prices down before November no doubt looks like a good electoral strategy to them.
I don’t doubt they can do this by having Obama float phony offshore lease proposals, and dragging commodity traders down to D.C. for the Waxman treatment.
Another illiterate journalism school grad.
What drove it down was that the American economy went into near collapse state and took the rest of the world’s economies with it.
Had their been no speculation this last decade then gas prices would have about now inflated to $2.50 by now, driven in large part by demand in India and China, but that increase would have been generic, would have been overtime and would have been something Americans could have absorbed.
What we got instead was a situation where we saw a 300% increase in the average price of gas over 5 years which was a much higher inflation rate than the actual inflation rate. That was the poison pill that killed the consumption based economy.
Torture?
It too is a factor but according to PMSNBC it’s all just the evil Wall Street.
No wonder Hugo Chavez is envious of Obozo. It has been easier to takeover the US than Venezuela. I used to believe there would be a tipping point. Not anymore.
It seems we have our eggs all in the basket of the 2010 elections. Since massive fraud will occur and we the opposition will not protest....very sad.
I remember when the Soviets used to curse Wall Street. Now it’s MSNBC.
He does but this article is in prep for Wall Street to take the blame when it does.
Yea, they forget that it’s the evil left enviroes that have blocked at ever turn, any building of new refiners and any drilling for decades. If not for them, we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all.
I am one of those idiots then. While supply and demand ultimately dictates the price, you better believe that big time players like GS jump from market to market and piggyback on major trend moves.
They should really accelerate the utilization of clean energy.
Hope that the Wall Street would not become the hardest obstruction for a new technology revolution.
Yes, absolutely. This is a way to dampen the markets temporarily during an election season without actually drilling. Seem to create a future pool of oil without actually following through.
Obama and the Dems are in desperation mode for '10. The health care bill was a stopgap measure that progressives actually hated, but held their noses for, in order to salvage the reputation of their Dear Leader. This is another indication that they're frightened about November.
It is not supply and demand because oru refineries are running at 79% of capacity and we are importing 1.2 million fewer gallons of oil every day. see the oil inventory report http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp
Some markets are too big for individuals to corner, and worrying about the effect of somebody like Soros is counterproductive. OPEC itself can’t completely control things, so worrying about a Bond villain-type character is a bit irrational. Soros can profit by making a correct call, but his control of energy is an imagined thing.
Who edits this stuff?
After Cap and Tax, our prices will only be 100 times higher than they are now. Gee, Oboma sure is a swell guy.
(This is only because Iran has Oboma over an oil barrel. This has nothing to do with the American citizens saving money. When was the last time Oboma did anything on behalf of Americans? Gimmie a break!)
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