Sorry, got my Snowjobs screwed up. He replaced Snow. I know gasoline usually falls after Labor Day, but around here it's about 25% and still falling. I don't recall it dropping that much in the past. I didn't mean to imply that OIL prices were manipulated (except for not refilling the SPR), just gasoline prices before the election. Let's see what happens the second week in November. I will also be checking oil company profits when they report for this quarter.
You two could not be more wrong. The derivative markets behind any REAL commodity are exponentially higher than the actual supply. The numbers are out there to show it. If the derivatives were all exercised, even out of money, there would be financial chaos. It was also proven by this one hedge fund head 5-6 years back. I really need to look up the info but it's a true story. He had some out of money calls on gold, a lot of them but the loss was not significant. So he said, WTF, lets exercise them. He ended up making a ton of money, cause the supply was not actually there. Oil is heavily run by derivatives. What tricks most "experts" is the fact that most clueless players rely on the global supply data to make their bets. So the price seems to resemble the reality, but truly it's all a bunch of BS that is easily manipulated by paper pushers. Price is a very important component as well, it can be manipulated to ramp up supply and then pushed down for a period of time to accomplish whatever goals. By the time the reality comes to surface, it doesn't matter. If you think I am wrong, check the data. What the hell do you think Greenspan kept trying to hint at with his doublespeak on derivatives. Look through history and ask yourself, why were derivatives always outlawed during a bubble bust that turned into financial chaos. Like the saying goes "the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent", "The market is never wrong". True in the context of our current financial system. Once the Market is truly wrong, you will have much bigger things to worry about than showing that you were right.
Congratulations Hydro. Policy making institutions should also use derrivatives as a counter-balancing weapon when a market or the financial system is threatened by the excessive power that such instruments give to the market manipulators.
maybe one of our government workers finally woke up and discovered they should stop filling spr with prices so high---I know this makes too much sense for the government but its possible
I already corrected myself. Paulsen replaced John Snow. It wasn't that long ago. Tony Snow is the press secy. I guess conspiracry theories about deals between the Bush administration (or any other for that matter) and private corporations are pretty farfetched. I mean, just look at the Medicare drug benifit plan. Those poor drug companies are almost going broke over that one.
What's the connection between the Medicare program and the oil market? Do I have to drop a hit of acid to understand it?
Maybe you already did drop a hit of acid. I wasn't trying to make a connection between the oil market and anything. I was trying to make a connection between lower gasoline prices in the US and the election in three weeks. Gas prices have fallen maybe 25% off their highs from this past summer in my area. As far as the Medicare drug plan, it's pretty well known that the legislation was authored by big pharma insiders. The biggest beneficiary of the drug plan will be the drug companies. There is no connection to the oil market AFAIK. Have another hit.