Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 6, 2008 16:12:08 GMT -4
I'll stop talking about politics then and aim for funnier political quotes in the future on this thread.
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Post by Retrograde on Jun 6, 2008 16:17:20 GMT -4
I'll stop talking about politics then and aim for funnier political quotes in the future on this thread. Do what you like. Just don't call anyone "risk adverse"
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Post by wdmundt on Jun 6, 2008 16:21:20 GMT -4
How am I going to get my therapy, then?
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 6, 2008 16:53:28 GMT -4
Start another thread.
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 6, 2008 16:57:16 GMT -4
Start another thread. ha ha. How about one titled Religion or Politics - Which is more important? Neil Young - Revolution Blues ***PLAYING NOW*****
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Post by wdmundt on Jun 6, 2008 16:58:21 GMT -4
But, seriously -- I enjoy arguing with you. I have a lot of conservative friends and I like being able to try out arguments on you, first.
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 6, 2008 17:25:23 GMT -4
If I didn't like a good argument I certainly wouldn't be hanging around here, and most of my friends are conservative, so it's good to test my views with a liberal.
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 10, 2008 12:30:09 GMT -4
"With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress...Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging." -House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in April of 2006
Average price of gas at that time: $2.50 per gallon. Current average price: $4 and rising.
How's that "common sense" plan working out, Nancy?
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 10, 2008 15:21:01 GMT -4
Ours is over five dollars as a result of more taxes by our really nice government.
And we are a net exporter of oil! Someone's getting really, really rich.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jun 10, 2008 18:29:08 GMT -4
Someone's getting really, really rich.
Hedge funds and pention plans, that's who.
People are quick to blame the Oil Companies, but in that little place called reality they are getting stuff all from this boom. Their profits come not from price gouging, but rather that they are producing huge nuimbers of barrels of oil and selling that in over 100 countries. Out of the current US$130 a barrel the Oil companies are getting around $10 of that as profit. The problem is the Investment Brokers, they are artifically increasing the price with their futures speculation. Whenever the price starts to fall back down because of lowering demand, the speculators all jump into the market to gain a "bargin" and drive the price back up, such was the cause of the $11 jump just the other day. Economists are putting the effect just from the speculation on oil to have inflated the price by at least US$50-60 a barrel, and with many continuing to claim that it could hit US$150-200 a barrel by the end of the year it's doubtful that the speculators will be fleeing the market just yet. Really the only way to stop the rise by the investors is to artifically burst the bubble, predicting the drop in prices and scaring the speculators out of the market. If they believe that the price is about to plument and that they'll lose money, then they'll start to abandon it, dropping demand on futures and creating a natural drop in price until it finally balances by supply and demand. Unfortunately with all the current pronouncements saying it's going to increase, the speculators are in there till the end.
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 10, 2008 20:52:40 GMT -4
A good way to pop the bubble would be to open drilling in ANWAR, or off the Pacific shelf, or allow a few more refineries to be built (none have been since 1970), or allow the development of oil shales. Basically anything that would increase the supply.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jun 11, 2008 1:39:45 GMT -4
Unfortunately it won't. The current price is not a factor based on supply and demand, which has left a lot of economists scratching their heads because it's against every prediction of modern economics. The only way to drop the price is to get the speculators outof the market. We've seen this in other markets before, such as the housing market, they push the prices up above the real value until the market bubble bursts and then they run and go somewhere else. With the Share Market a bit iffy at the moment, finace companies toppling like pine trees in a hurricane, and the housing market on a downward spiral, the speculators are all looking for a new portfolio and have picked up on oil driving prices through the roof.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Jun 11, 2008 6:00:19 GMT -4
The only way to drop the price is to get the speculators outof the market. Line 'em up against the wall & shoot?
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jun 11, 2008 11:16:47 GMT -4
Increase the supply and the price will drop. It went up recently in part because Israel started threatening Iran - a threat to the supply. If OPEC decides to increase supply at its upcoming meeting it will drop.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jun 11, 2008 17:56:01 GMT -4
Increase the supply and the price will drop. It went up recently in part because Israel started threatening Iran - a threat to the supply. If OPEC decides to increase supply at its upcoming meeting it will drop. Have you actually been reading my posts Jason? Did you notice the bit where I pointed out that worldwide demand had been decreasing causing the price to drop, and then the speculators all jumped in to get a bargin and skyrocketed the price up $11? Did you read the bit where I pointed out that economists are baffled by the fact that the standard supply/demand pressures were not working in this case? Increasing the supply will not bring down the price because as soon as the market forces start to drop it, the speculators start bidding high to buy up the excess and get a bargin, thus they drive the price back up again. There is already more supply than "real" demand, but as long as there are people predicting that prices will keep going up, the speculators are going to buy up anything they can get at what they consider a cheap price so as to sell it later at a massive profit. They believe that if they buy it all now, even at $140-150 a barrel, that if thay can then sell it six months from now at $200-$250 a barrel, then they're making out with a whacking 25%+ profit over just that 6 months. As long as they believe that this is the case, they're going to stay in the market driving those prices up and throwing basic economic theory out the window.
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