Fine: Lehman Brother's, others drove oil barrel prices up

New Mexico Business Weekly ^ | 1/09 | Daniel Fine

[greenwill]

The sudden crash in oil prices might be the smoking gun that shows speculation, rather than supply and demand, drove the huge run-up in oil futures last year.

[razorback-bert]

It was run up for one reason, elect Odumbo.

[Cheetahcat]

Someone needs Jailed for a long time.

[mojitojoe]

Yea, everyone in the Federal Reserve, The poser in chief in the WH, all of the Senate and all of the House... for starters. A good flushing out, start all over.

[Cheetahcat]

“Yea, everyone in the Federal Reserve, The poser in chief in the WH, all of the Senate and all of the House... for starters. A good flushing out, start all over.”

That bunch two or three flushes.

[Warlord]

Let's see, an “expert” has determined the “real” price of oil to be between $70 and $80 a barrel and any deviation from "real" price as evidence of undue “speculation.” In response, a free republic conservative--who likely fancies himself as lover of liberty--suggests that any trading activity in contravention of expert opinion be punishable by imprisonment.

The U.S. is descending into a peoples republic of doushbags.

[Uncle Hal]

I just watched the documentary drama on the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. that occured in 2008. Very interesting. I would recommend it.

[Nahanni]

It was run up for one reason, elect Odumbo.

BINGO! We have a winner. BTW-There are hundreds of oil tankers sitting idle in ports like Houston, New Orleans, etc. All of them are chock full of oil that the speculators bought back in 2008. They are waiting for the price of oil to go up so they can recoup some of their money.

[Chode]

do I really have to say it???

[Neidermeyer]

I’d sure like to see trading restricted to people that can take delivery or at least bump the margin required to buy a contract high enough that it’ll keep the people that want to play “Hunt Brothers” games out.

[gleeaikin]

“The real price is between $75 and $80 per barrel.”

Well, I guess there is no undue speculation because that is where the price has been for months.

[gleeaikin]

I agree, only end users, like General Mills with grains, trucking companies or airlines with fuels, should be allowed to take very large positions in commodities. Restrict the rest of us to moderate amounts.

[Smokin' Joe]

If you look at the price curve through the late '70s and early to mid 80's boom/bust, the shape of the curves is pretty much the same, including the post peak overcorrection downward, and rising again to find support.

I'm just trying to finish paying off the house before '86 comes around again...

[Dave346]

Until 6 years ago the price of oil was never over $40.
There’s no reason the price should be any higher than that in this economy.

[Drill Thrawl]

"Restrict the rest of us to moderate amounts."

Why limit that to just oil? Everything a human consumes should be restricted "...to each according to his needs." Then we will all have enough and live happily ever after.

/s - As if I had to add that.

[Eyes Unclouded]

The BBC one?

[Drill Thrawl]

10,000 oil contracts of 1,000

That's less than a days worth of US consumption. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't sound like enough make the market jump all that high.

Blaming Lehman for the oil bubble sound to me like blaming Casey for Iran-Contra or Vince Foster for the Rose Law Firm issues.

[HardStarboard]

Lehman Brothers didn’t shut down drilling in the Gulf!

Many are predicting $100 oil by Christmas. Thanks Obie.

[Revel]

This was as obvious as when you flip a switch on the wall and a light comes on. But it was not just one bank. The answer is to drop gas by $1.00 per gallon for 6 months. The banks involved in this have to subsidize that dollar. If they pay a fine to the government then who does that help?

[gleeaikin]

I was not limiting that to just oil. I was referring to all commodities traded in the Exchanges.