Why isn't the media & the loudmouths complaining about speculators betting oil will go down?? I guess speculators are OK sometimes, eh?
they are still evil because the people who bought the contracts are the gas/transportation companies. They bought them at the top! So now those who bought the contracts at top pass the buck to average Joe. Worse those who hedged have to pay the profits of speculatiors not only on the way up, but also on the way down ($100). It is as if oil is now trading at $250 ($150+$100). That is why price of oil at pump will never go down to the level it was at even if the price of oil is the same as in the past.
Your point of view is quite bizzare. Around here the laws of economics work rather well. Last price for NYMEX oil was about $48.00 and wholesale gasoline at $1.07. Retail price for gasoline in Edison, NJ is $1.579, right in line with wholesale oil and gasoline prices.
speculators are only bad when its bad for the masses. when its good for the masses like low oil prices nobody gives a damm. when oil was skying the arabs were greedy pigs but now that oils at $40 and they'll feel the pain all say screw them. when shorts got murdered in 1999 everyone laughed at them but this year they blamed them for the collapse.
You never hear a word about this from Bill O'Rielly, who was screaming that the evil speculators were killing "the folks" a few months ago. I did hear him say a couple of days ago that the only reason the markets are down is because speculators "run them up and then they run them down". Then he added that he "hoped Obama did something about that as President". Fucking morons.
What was the retail price when oil was at $48.00 sometime in the past? I did not check, but if you check it you would find that the price of gasoline at that same place was lower than $1.579. The reason: oil companies are holding the bag and passing the note to YOU!
Well if I remember correctly, gasoline was around $.89/gallon ten years ago, when crude bottomed at $10/bbl. $1.59 doesn't seem too high to me at $48.00
Not sure how to break the news to you, but the last time oil was $48.00 a barrel the price of gasoline was higher at about $1.839 a gallon. You don't seem to realize that the price of gasoline has collapsed so bad that the refining margin for gasoline is negative. 42 times $1.07 is only $44.94 a barrel for gasoline, that is $3.06 below the cost of a barrel of oil. At $48.00 a barrel for oil, gasoline should be $52.00 to $56.00 a barrel, not at $44.94. Only thing being passed to me is cheap gasoline.