How about to answer the question? So again, why foreigners don't divest from American markets??? Doesn't the world hate America nowadays? Wouldn't world stick it to the U.S. if it could? I wonder if you guys have a clue what attracts foreign money to any domestic market.
Gave you? Read all about the Lend-Lease program here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease It was all a loan with interest. England made its final payment at the end of 2006. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article1264220.ece Maybe there will be fewer poodles in the future now that there is no outstanding debt in the picture.
This is kind of right and kind of not right. The new oil field found in the Gulf of Mexico and that's not come online yet, The shale belt in the western US is now booming because only recently it's become technologically and financially feasible to convert shale to oil, two anecdotes that refute your premise. Gold is as much a finite commodity, as is silver, or many other commodities. Oil has only recently (last 150 years) become more important to industrial nations than all these other commodities combined, hence the interest. New oil is being produced all the time by the rock cycle and seismic activity. Just like mineable gold, silver, etc. But you are kind of right in that the common perception is (which creates market sentiment) "Oil is not being produced, oil is finite, we are using more than we have found, there is a limit to the amount of oil that is in the earth, and we know what that limit is (peak oil)" etc. This creates an aura of scarcity around oil and also leads to your very true and worrisome statement that the world can use (and is using) more than the world is currently refining (I figure this is what you meant).
I agree. Retail futures trading is nothing more than another easy credit speculative excess. There is no end to the credit that can be created with futures. Oil is a strategic commodity. We are at war and our forces need it. Nobody should be speculating in it. We need draconian margins first, and if that doesn't drive the small and large speculators away, then an outright ban. Oddly enough, when I try to think of a leader we've had that would have instinctively known this speculating is wrong and would have put a stop to it - only Richard Nixon comes to mind. Imagine what will happen when a few hundred million Chinese and Indians start retail trading it.
the US spends on defence because europeans don't pay their fair share. if it wasn't for the states we'd all be part of the soviet union which would not be defunct.
It's called capitalism RON.....Buy cheap, Sell dear. Fact is, there is no reason that even an individual such as you or I, couldn't hedge our bets, or even profit from what's going on in oil!
What would happen? If they all had to close their positions pre-expiration, I assume nothing but more liquidity. Could you imagine how all the 'dumb' longs would just as easily flood to the exits upon selling as they would chase momentum up.
The fact is we oil speculators (me) provide a necessary and useful function to society. We provide liquidity for true hedgers and minimize huge price swings for instance. I've heard this anti-futures talk before. It happened years ago when the american farmers were blaming ag speculators for causing famine and starvation for the farmers. The blame game will always be around. You will always have a small group of vocal people who are against speculation and blame a certain group of capitalists (oil specs) for everything bad in the world...simply because they don't understand it themselves and have no research to back anything up...just opinions derived out of thin air. I can assure you that oil futures trading will not be banned and speculators will flourish as usual. Even if 'they' somehow managed to minimize it, we'd just set up shop in another country and speculation will run as rampant as ever. Also, please don't post this kind of anti-capitalist propaganda on a forum where other speculators like me hang out. I find it insulting to my way of life. Disgruntled proletariats are not welcome.
I feel your pain but get used to these assholes and their retarded opinions. Get rid of oil futures and everything is going to be OK. Big brain who started this thread has no clue. Why these lefty types come to this site is beyond me (and there are lots of them here).