Diesel price??????

[BCooke]

Originally Posted by wildtoad

Most (many) property and casualty companies break even or lose money on insurance operations. They have good years and bad years. They make most of their profit on investment income.

Now look at software giants, apple, microsoft etc. Seems no one complains about companies that make our toys. I find it humorous that folks complain about the price of gas as they are loading up their boats/rv's/motor cycles to go to the lake for a little R&R. And while they gas up, pay $5 for a pack of smokes.

A devalued $ adds to the price of a global product such as gas and diesel. Tell Ben to quit printing money and the price of gas will go down.

But I can do without apple, Microsoft, do without cigs. I need fuel to get to work. Fertilizer is used on the food that is transported to the store. Thankfully I burn coal for winter heat, delivered by a vehicle powered by oil, some other things I use;
Products Made From Oil

Clothing Ink, Heart Valves (not yet),Telephones, Enamel, Transparent tape, Antiseptics, Deodorant, Pantyhose (wife not me , Rubbing Alcohol, Carpets, Epoxy paint, Oil filters, Upholstery, Hearing Aids (getting there).........................
So it is more or less a given that if you live you will use oil products.....

[so47]

Originally Posted by Jack1234

I am sure everyone knows that Canada is the largest supplier of imported oil to the US as it supplies approx. 30% of the foreign crude imported into America. Most of this oil is WCS (Western Canada Select - not as light as Saudi or Brent) and it travels via existing pipelines to a refining & pipeline hub (& bottleneck) at Cushing Oklahoma. At this point Canada sells it to the US at a discount of 35-40% (cheaper) than oil from the Middle East or the North Sea.

This discount is primarily a result of the (quality) and the fact that Alberta is landlocked and currently has only one customer - the US. The irony of Keystone is that it will provide access for Alberta (WCS) to a deep water port in the Gulf and world markets. In addition, Alberta is also attempting to fast track the Gateway pipeline to deep water Pacific ports for direct access to Asian markets.

I'm curious to know how certain political figures & the general public think that fast tracking Keystone is going to improve US energy self sufficiency and also lower gasoline/ diesel prices to 2009 levels, as Alberta gains greater access to world pricing/markets with it's currently underpriced oil?

X2

[so47]

Originally Posted by rvguy02

Those that have pushed the Keystone project have distorted reality for years. To claim that it will help the U.S. economy and lower energy costs is a joke perpetrated by bought out politicians. Our energy prices will never come down - period. Supply and demand are irrelevant now.

X2000

[rvguy02]

In this week's Time magazine there is an interesting article about domestic energy production. Basically it says the U.S. is becoming a major player in the energy EXPORT market. The old and tired nonsense of "drill baby drill" is just that - nonsense. We ARE drilling and we have TONS of oil. Those who have the oil control where its price goes and that's in only one direction. The easiest way to bring prices down a bit is to require all energy traders to take physical possession of what they're trading. This is a fundamental flaw in our economy - the "financialization" of so much of our day-to-day lives. Massive amounts of money being made by a very small number of people doing nothing other than "trading". They "make" nothing, they contribute nothing, they just take take and take. The endless complaints from Wall Street about financial regulation are a disgrace. They caused this mess and need to be regulated MORE, not less. They're the same as the kids in school that never behaved until they were forced to play by the rules.

[Jack1234]

Originally Posted by rvguy02

In this week's Time magazine there is an interesting article about domestic energy production. Basically it says the U.S. is becoming a major player in the energy EXPORT market. The old and tired nonsense of "drill baby drill" is just that - nonsense. We ARE drilling and we have TONS of oil. Those who have the oil control where its price goes and that's in only one direction. The easiest way to bring prices down a bit is to require all energy traders to take physical possession of what they're trading. This is a fundamental flaw in our economy - the "financialization" of so much of our day-to-day lives. Massive amounts of money being made by a very small number of people doing nothing other than "trading". They "make" nothing, they contribute nothing, they just take take and take. The endless complaints from Wall Street about financial regulation are a disgrace. They caused this mess and need to be regulated MORE, not less. They're the same as the kids in school that never behaved until they were forced to play by the rules.

I think you are referring to changes in the Commodity trading rules. In 1936 Roosevelt passed the Commodity Exchange Act designed to prevent speculators from messing around in important things like food, oil, etc. The Act did this by setting "position limits" on speculators. These limits worked very well for over 50 years until the early 1990's when Investment Banks lobbied to have the rules relaxed. By the early 2000's it was game-on and by 2008 -80% of commodity trading was investor/speculators rather than corn farmers!

The Banks had massive pools of money from pension funds, trade union funds & sovereign wealth funds in which to go "long" on indexed commodity trades. The only problem with indexed commodity trading, as opposed to stocks, is that it is "long only". As a result, when you introduce massive quantities of funds all chasing a finite commodity in one direction......it does tend to push prices "up".

So....while oil (& gasoline) prices were going through the roof in the first part of 2008, there was in fact a glut of oil in the market! By July oil hit $149 a barrel....then like all manipulated markets/bubbles....combined with the collapse of the mortgage market...it all went bust and by Dec. the price was $33 a barrel......and we had some great prices at the pump in early 2009.

I am often curious why non of the people who could actually do something about this never seem to acknowledge market manipulation of the commodity. One guy wants more deregulation of pipelines, the Oil Industry & Wall Street, while the other guys wants more windmills & solar panels.




"what" if anything has changed since 2008? Has the government introduced new regulation to limit this type of market manipulation?

[SeattlePirat]

Jack, its a global economy. Our elected officials, Congress, Senate, etc have sold the American ppl down the river. All the oil companies are global and have no ties or loyalty to us.

Through fracking our reserved have doubled and tripled. So much for peak oil.

We are totally screwed.

[stuhly]

Until the speculators actually have take possession of the commodity and dollars actually change hands we are screwed.

[datrbone8]

Originally Posted by rvguy02

In this week's Time magazine there is an interesting article about domestic energy production. Basically it says the U.S. is becoming a major player in the energy EXPORT market. The old and tired nonsense of "drill baby drill" is just that - nonsense. We ARE drilling and we have TONS of oil. Those who have the oil control where its price goes and that's in only one direction. The easiest way to bring prices down a bit is to require all energy traders to take physical possession of what they're trading. This is a fundamental flaw in our economy - the "financialization" of so much of our day-to-day lives. Massive amounts of money being made by a very small number of people doing nothing other than "trading". They "make" nothing, they contribute nothing, they just take take and take. The endless complaints from Wall Street about financial regulation are a disgrace. They caused this mess and need to be regulated MORE, not less. They're the same as the kids in school that never behaved until they were forced to play by the rules.

AMEN, brother !!!

[rvguy02]

Now the question is how do we force this to stop? I've never seen ANY presidential candidate discuss the need to tighten regulations on traders. Then again, all politicians are bought. That's why they become career politicians. It's a very lucrative business to be in... Did I say business? Oh that's right - they're supposed to be public servants. They will never allow the rules to change until Americans truly stage civil disobedience or mass protests. I'm NOT talking anarchy or nonsense like that, but I am talking about taking our country back from the plutocrats that are running it. They don't understand when enough is enough. The left vs. right is made up to keep all of us fighting with each other instead of seeing what's being done to us. Classic "divide and conquer". Right now they're winning.

I am a capitalist in every sense of the word and own two small businesses, but what I'm seeing done to this country by big business and the financial sector is disgraceful. Some of my clients are "big businesses" and they treat small businesses like crap. Payment terms of 120 days plus - take it or leave it. Why? So they can inflate their bottom line to make their stock more attractive and allow for huge bonuses or lucrative stock options for senior management. It's crazy. Only short-term thinking, no long-term strategy for improving the economy for everyone.

Sorry for the rant, but enough is enough. The "average" American is getting crushed so that an elite few can grab all the benefits. This is NOT what America is supposed to be about.

[Jack1234]

Originally Posted by stuhly

Until the speculators actually have take possession of the commodity and dollars actually change hands we are screwed.

Right!

I can hardly wait to see the California Public Service Workers Pension Fund park a Super Tanker with 84 million gallons of crude oil in their driveway.

[laj]

Working on a new rail spur line to my house so I can off load into my 100,000 gal. Storage tanks.
Think I can get those through the EPA, deq, environmentalist?