Oil at $144 a Barrel

[FOTD]

In 1999, Osama Bin Laden said it would bring the West to their knees....is it happening before our eyes?

[Nik]

The QT nearest to my house jumped a dime in the last few hours. $3.89.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by Nik

The QT nearest to my house jumped a dime in the last few hours. $3.89.

Welcome to the New World Order.

It's only a coincidence mind you that:

1) George W. Bush was a Texas oilman.

2) He picked a Oil Field Services executive to be his VP.

3) His major backers were Energy companies.

4) He went to war with the country with 2nd largest known reserves in the World.

5) The price of oil and gasoline has gone up in a straight upward line since he was inaugurated President.

All just a coincidence.

Nothing to see here; just move along.


[8D]

[FOTD]

Plenty to see.....sometimes, you can get shown the light....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/world/middleeast/03kurdistan.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=login


Hundreds of billions of our taxpayer dollars, thousands of lives, and our national infrastructure crumbling, all to subsidize the profiteering of the Bush/Cheney Oil Swindlers: "Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq's central government, a Congressional committee has concluded."

Unethical slimeballs run these United States of America.....  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/waxman_says_white_house_knew_a.php

[rhymnrzn]

The prices are code language for "You are unclean, idle, and strange children unto us".  

They fight and war, and yet the bottom line in retrospect is,  they have not.

The pastors, priests, and rulers of this people are the ones with the costly apparel, and the goodly ring, telling the wearers of vile raiment "Get under my footstool".  They eat and drink like kings while others better than themselves stand without.

[FOTD]

The breaking of our back...

Oil prices will not ease if supply rises - Saudi king

http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-34311720080701?sp=true

[FOTD]

More education on the matter......these guys are worse than weasels....they are criminal.

"Two years before the invasion of Iraq, oil executives and foreign policy advisers told the Bush administration that the United States would remain "a prisoner of its energy dilemma" as long as Saddam Hussein was in power."

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/070208a.html

[cannon_fodder]

Just to get this straight, the accusation is that Bush and Cheney got into office with the plan of raising oil prices and doing as much damage to the US economy as possible?

Makes sense.

While clearly they have done little to help the situation, Iraq pumps more oil NOW than they did before the war.  The part of the equation that has changed is the demand line - almost entirely from India and China.  Also, continued uprising in Nigeria coupled with hostile stances in Iran and Venezuela fuel supply concerns.

So, if your conspiracy is that Bush and Cheney convinced Hugo Chavez to nationalize oil companies and are leaning on Iran to make nuclear weapons so Israel attacks them, while simultaneously begging China to keep it's currency pegged and buy an ever increasing amount of crude... then I think your on to something.

Otherwise, I'd say that while contributing to the problem by feeding speculative markets and refusing to force through either a workable energy policy nor more domestic production - the conspiracy just falls flat.  Well, at least from an economic, historical, and logical perspective.  From a casual connection point of view... it's fantastic.
- - -

Did you know the ONLY nuclear disaster in the US took place while a Nuclear Engineer was president?  It essentially killed new players from entering the nuclear power industry and granted coal a near monopoly on new power plants.  I bet Jimmy Carter had friends in the nuclear business that made monopolistic profits and probably bought into coal!

THEN, because we didn't have cheap clean power oil continued to be our primary transportation fuel.  Even though Carter learned that oil is our Achilles heel.  So we didn't get cool electric cars as promised.

He's in on it!

[FOTD]

Don't be so stupid to think their intentions did not get outa hand.....like mad men, they thought the war would be easy and they were wrong. Dead wrong.

"One way or another, one way or another,
One way or another, this darkness got to give."
Garcia/Hunter

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by FOTD

Don't be so stupid to think their intentions did not get outa hand.....like mad men, they thought the war would be easy and they were wrong. Dead wrong.

True.  Well, actually... the war was easy.  The occupation phase is the part we screwed up and/or didn't plan for (I have some great cribs from Sun Tso that clearly no one at the pentagon read).  But the statement is true in spirit.

Either way, that does not support your conspiracy theory.  If they thought the war was going to go easy, that would have benefited oil prices as the region would be more stable and the Iraqi embargo would have been lifted.  Your theory depends on them starting a protracted war in the region to destabilize commodity prices and reduce Iraq's contribution to global supply.

The conspiracy also used to include a "war for oil" in which US oil companies extracted the reserves for our own use.  As much as I wish a variant of that was happening to pay us back for our efforts, it's not.  

The occupation was poorly planned.  The result has had a negative effect on oil prices.  Which, in turn, has been horrible for the economy and most American's pocket books.  The administration response in energy policy has been negligible.  No arguments there.

[we vs us]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder


The conspiracy also used to include a "war for oil" in which US oil companies extracted the reserves for our own use.  As much as I wish a variant of that was happening to pay us back for our efforts, it's not.  

Well, actually . . . .

quote: BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.  

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.

I'm not sure how far to take the "war for oil" thing.  I'm a natural skeptic of conspiracy theories in general, but I have to admit that it's hard to ignore these glaring data points that keep emerging. I don't think the Bush Administration is capable of successful long term planning, but it's getting more and more difficult to chalk this stuff up to mere coincidence.

[rwarn17588]

quote:Originally posted by we vs us

I'm not sure how far to take the "war for oil" thing.  I'm a natural skeptic of conspiracy theories in general, but I have to admit that it's hard to ignore these glaring data points that keep emerging. I don't think the Bush Administration is capable of successful long term planning, but it's getting more and more difficult to chalk this stuff up to mere coincidence.

I chalk it up to simple bumbling and incompetence. I mean, it's par for the course with this bunch.

[bokworker]

Total and BP are not American companies... western yes, American no. (Total is French, BP.. well British Petroleum)

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by bokworker

Total and BP are not American companies... western yes, American no. (Total is French, BP.. well British Petroleum)

BP wholly-owns 3 of the following former Seven Sisters Standard Oil companies:

Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO)
Atlantic Richfield co. (ARCO)
American Oil Co. (AMOCO)

Concidentally, with these acquisitions, they control the majority of the pipelines running through the Cushing Switch.

From that catbird's seat, they can see both the SUPPLY and the DEMAND side of majority of Mid-Continent crude purchased, transferred, and sold in the U.S.

If you can see both the supply AND the demand of any commodity, you have a virtual certainty near-term in the Oil futures market.

Happy Days are Here Again, old boy!


[]

[we vs us]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588


I chalk it up to simple bumbling and incompetence. I mean, it's par for the course with this bunch.

I'm with you to a degree, but there has to come a point where the piles of circumstantial evidence start pointing to intent rather than sheer negligence.

I guess what I'm saying is, there's a surprisingly straight line from Cheney's secret energy task force of 2001 through till today's divvying up of no-bid contracts to the oil majors.  That doesn't also preclude a hefty serving of Bush-style cronyism and incompetence, but there's some strong evidence of planning as well.

Just for the record, I'm not happy that I'm starting to see this as feasible.  I'd much rather leave this to my tin-foil loving brethren on the more hysterical blogs.