A Nurse with a Gun

Friday, January 23, 2009

Gas Prices

posted by Xavier at 7:40 PM

13 Comments:

Blogger Flo said...

Wow....just...wow...

The older I get I can't help thinking; maybe Tyler Durden was right...

9:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a fascinating report. It's another example of of how our Congress is corrupted by big money interests, at the expense of the citizens it is elected to serve. The current collapse of our financial system is the latest example.

Let's hope people are finally catching on and hold their feet to the fire.

9:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending to much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

2:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Over the years, 60 Minutes has done a few stories on things that I know a little bit about. Their consistent telling of distorted half truths on these matters has led me to take 60 minutes with a grain of salt.

If they said the sky was blue, I would know that the sky could very well be blue, or purple, or green.

5:53 AM  
Blogger Mikael said...

The "free market" in action, neocon wet dreams. This is why regulation is so important.

6:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Remember. 60 Minutes is not an unbiased source of news so be sure to keep an open mind. This might be true, or it might be BS.

I was intrigued by the claim in the piece that Obama was going to look into this. Another miracle by the Messiah.

7:07 AM  
Blogger Brad Harper said...

Be very skeptical. This video illustrates perfectly the emotional, cannibalistic, unprincipled state of American culture and politics.

Who's right to what are speculators violating?

None.

Yet they are denigrated and demonized for seeking a profit.

Buying/selling commodities futures is no different in principle than buying/selling real estate or any other item in anticipation of a future increase in value.

Regulation, however, does constitute a violation of rights - the right of speculators to invest as they see fit.

Cannibals like Mikael love such opportunities because it makes him feel better to impose force on the evil rich.

8:58 AM  
Blogger Rorschach said...

While this story is correct as far as it goes, there are other aspects that are not covered. There was talk some time back that they would outlaw futures trading on oil. There is one other case where commodity trading was outlawed. Onions. since then, the price has become far MORE volatile.

Secondly, as the price goes down, exploration and drilling activity collapses. I know, because I was a victim of that collapse just yesterday. Oil production worldwide from existing wells is falling at a rate of about 9% per year. To make up for that decline, new wells must come online. If there are no new wells in the pipeline, eventually there will be a knee point where the demand outstrips supply. and when that happens, away goes the price of oil again. Restrictions on speculation will enhance the jump because there will not be a supply cushion in the form of those tanks of heating oil. That knee point is like to occur in the next 6 to 8 months if the information I have read is correct.

9:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brad,

Who are they hurting? All of us. They are speculating on barrels of oil that don't exist. Therefore manipulating the cost of physical oil that does exist.

The problem with our economy is that supply and demand, the base of Capitalism, has been left vulnerable to those with access. This is where the housing market went off the rails.

Consider this from a 2008 Vanity Fair article:

Two years ago, in 2006, the measured economic output of the entire world was worth around $48.6 trillion. The total market capitalization of the world’s stock markets was $50.6 trillion, 4 percent larger. The total value of domestic and international bonds was $67.9 trillion, 40 percent larger...

...The total annual issuance of mortgage-backed securities, including fancy new “collateralized debt obligations” (C.D.O.’s), rose to more than $1 trillion. The volume of “derivatives”—contracts such as options and swaps—grew even faster, so that by the end of 2006 their notional value was just over $400 trillion.

$400 trillion dollars worth of paper. This is why were in for a rude awakening, and it's all due to deregulated speculators.

12:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Using massive amounts of wealth to crush existing markets is something the government needs some regulatory control on. It's the same principle behind anti-monopoly regulations. We can not allow too much power to be in too few hands or they will eventually try to enslave us.

3:26 PM  
Blogger Brad Harper said...

Nat, there is a substantial difference in economic power and government power. Only the latter has the ability to do any form of enslaving. Indeed, it is the same principle driving antitrust laws, which are, for the same reasons mentioned above, wholly unjust and equally immoral. Antitrust laws are the single most detrimental movement threatening America. They are undefinable, unenforceable and diametrically opposed to freedom and Capitalism.

Unless you can tell me whose specific right to what is being forcefully violated by speculators then you have no legitimate justification for regulating anyone.

"Because it makes you feel good" is not a good enough reason.

7:47 PM  
Blogger Mikael said...

"Cannibals like Mikael love such opportunities because it makes him feel better to impose force on the evil rich."

The regulation I'm talking about isn't a ban on the trade, it's insight and paper trails. As it is currently, there's a lot of illegal/greyarea shifty stuff being done, and it cannot be prosecuted, because there's no juristiction, and no way of securing evidence. We're talking white collar crime here. Enron ring a bell?

Nice and mature of you to go immidiately for the insults though.

8:10 PM  
Blogger Brad Harper said...

"Nice and mature of you to go immidiately for the insults though."

Certainly. I was merely responding with the tone conveyed in your "neocon wet dream" smear of what you incorrectly label a "free market."

What you refer to as insight and paper trails are just as invasive an encroachment on rights as as any other form of regulation.

Again, can you tell me whose right to what is being violated as your justification for even "insight" or "paper trails?"

7:31 AM  

<< Home