Rising Gas Prices

[nathanm]

Was it the speculators fault a few years ago (when Bush was president) when gas prices spiked?  As I recall, Pelosi blamed Bush and not the speculators:

I blamed the speculators.

The reason why a supply disruption even in a nation that produces so little of the world's supply has such a large effect is that there is little excess production capacity right now. Moreover, what little there is is mainly heavier varieties of crude, for which there is much less refining capacity than the light stuff. So there is a real supply constraint here.

And the earlier price increases? How about increasing consumption by the BRIC bloc (not to mention rebounding consumption here in the US).

[Conan71]

I blamed the speculators.

The reason why a supply disruption even in a nation that produces so little of the world's supply has such a large effect is that there is little excess production capacity right now. Moreover, what little there is is mainly heavier varieties of crude, for which there is much less refining capacity than the light stuff. So there is a real supply constraint here.

And the earlier price increases? How about increasing consumption by the BRIC bloc (not to mention rebounding consumption here in the US).

And of course, now we know it wasn't President Bush nor the speculator's fault.  It was Tom Kivisto getting chased into bankruptcy by Gold Man Sacks.

[Breadburner]

I think Kivisto did get foobared a little bit......

[nathanm]

And of course, now we know it wasn't President Bush nor the speculator's fault.  It was Tom Kivisto getting chased into bankruptcy by Gold Man Sacks.

Kivisto was just another speculator. SemGroup's "hedging" was far out of proportion to what they actually needed to hedge. Would have been on par with Soros' forex winnings had it worked out, though. SemGroup definitely had an impact on prices, but there are too many billions floating around in the market for oil for them to have done it without plenty of help from others.

[we vs us]

Here's another enlightening take on speculation:

Big traders are betting the ranch that oil prices will keep rising, testing the pain threshold of an economy that is not exactly setting records as is.

Large noncommercial speculators – firms that play the futures markets without taking delivery – added to their long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 50,200 contracts last week, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

The surge of speculative money into the oil futures pits shows that big financial players are expecting the price of WTI crude to surge well above the recent $105 or so seen last week. If they are right, it will bring $4 gasoline a step closer.

[Conan71]

Kivisto was just another speculator. SemGroup's "hedging" was far out of proportion to what they actually needed to hedge. Would have been on par with Soros' forex winnings had it worked out, though. SemGroup definitely had an impact on prices, but there are too many billions floating around in the market for oil for them to have done it without plenty of help from others.

Have you ever been capable of simply saying: "I agree."  

In regards to Wevus' post, obviously regulators learned absolutely nothing from the dangers of speculative options trading.  It enrichens people for doing absolutely nothing other than fleecing the general consumer.

Steel prices are up 30 percent right now which impacts my industry.  Rising material and gas prices happened right before the bottom fell out the last time in 2008.  It could definitely shelve some projects until the bubble pops again which means we could be heading for a double dip.  I hope like Hell I'm wrong, but we've seen this before.  It wasn't simply a burst in the housing market bubble or Lehman taking the big dump.  Runaway oil prices coupled with rising food and raw material prices cost people jobs and made others start hoarding money.

There is simply no way you can't have inflation with rising fuel prices and raw material and food costs going up.  I'm normally a Pollyanna when it comes to the economy, but I really don't like this at all.

[Gaspar]

Have you ever been capable of simply saying: "I agree."   

In regards to Wevus' post, obviously regulators learned absolutely nothing from the dangers of speculative options trading.  It enrichens people for doing absolutely nothing other than fleecing the general consumer.

Steel prices are up 30 percent right now which impacts my industry.  Rising material and gas prices happened right before the bottom fell out the last time in 2008.  It could definitely shelve some projects until the bubble pops again which means we could be heading for a double dip.  I hope like Hell I'm wrong, but we've seen this before.  It wasn't simply a burst in the housing market bubble or Lehman taking the big dump.  Runaway oil prices coupled with rising food and raw material prices cost people jobs and made others start hoarding money.

There is simply no way you can't have inflation with rising fuel prices and raw material and food costs going up.  I'm normally a Pollyanna when it comes to the economy, but I really don't like this at all.

Milk is up.
Top soil is up.
Eggs are up.
Glass is up.
Rubber is up.

We are a nation that feeds on Oil.  It is the prime commodity that drives the price of all others.  We have little control over the speculative market for Oil because most of the transactions take place off our soil in countries that delight in our willingness to pay more.  The idea is to keep our demand high and keep the supply at a level that feeds our addiction without pushing us to capitalize on our own energy sources.

We can shake our fingers all we like, but as long as someone else controls the feeding tube, we are a dangerous puppet on a string.  We are Charlie Sheen, and we are "Winning!"

[nathanm]

Have you ever been capable of simply saying: "I agree."  

In regards to Wevus' post, obviously regulators learned absolutely nothing from the dangers of speculative options trading.  It enrichens people for doing absolutely nothing other than fleecing the general consumer.

Steel prices are up 30 percent right now which impacts my industry.  Rising material and gas prices happened right before the bottom fell out the last time in 2008.  It could definitely shelve some projects until the bubble pops again which means we could be heading for a double dip.  I hope like Hell I'm wrong, but we've seen this before.  It wasn't simply a burst in the housing market bubble or Lehman taking the big dump.  Runaway oil prices coupled with rising food and raw material prices cost people jobs and made others start hoarding money.

There is simply no way you can't have inflation with rising fuel prices and raw material and food costs going up.  I'm normally a Pollyanna when it comes to the economy, but I really don't like this at all.

I agree 

[guido911]

$5.00 gas is great:

http://money.msn.com/how-to-budget/article.aspx?post=e04807fc-e307-45c7-a3b0-9fdabfac3518&GT1=33009