Oil is a commodity, the price of which is controlled only by a few firms and nations. When the Republican Oil Party controlled the White House and both houses of Congress recently, oil firms knew they could jack up their prices at will, so long as demand was not impaired too much, because the Republicans wouldn't do anything about it.
Since August 2008, the price of a barrel of oil has dropped from over $140 to less than fifty dollars. Likewise, the price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline has swooned from about $4.25 a gallon to anywhere from $1.57 to $1.79. The price of oil and gasoline has plunged about 60 percent.
The demand for gasoline dove a little over 4 percent from November 2007 to November 2008. That only accounts for a little of the 60 percent drop in prices. So what accounts for the rest?
The Democratic Party will control both houses of congress and the White House in January 2009, and they are pushing for a green economy, which may leave little market for oil and its products. The oil companies are pushing the price down because they control that product and they want to head off the green revolution. Keeping gasoline so low may make it prohibitive to launch a successful green revolution and render oil as obsolete as a horse and buggy.
On the other hand, last month the Organization of Petroleum Countries (OPEC) announced the sharpest reduction of the supply of oil on record in order to arrest the rapid plunge in the prices of gasoline and oil. In other words, they decided to ensure that the supply did not equal demand in order to boost the price of its products. It's all manipulation. Supply does not equal demand, and never has.
In other words, when the price of gasoline is over $1.50 a gallon, the price is being manipulated upward. And it is likely the supply is rigged anytime the price is over a dollar a gallon, and always has been.
This suggests that gasoline and oil prices will remain relatively low until the Democrats lose a house in congress or the White House. In other words, prices will remain low for at least two years until the next election; and longer if the Republicans fail to gain control of one of the three branchs of government.
One further note: As I've mentioned before, this all proves that the concept of "peak oil" is an illusion.
Showing posts with label republican party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label republican party. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Rigged Game: Corporate America and a People Betrayed
Based on my book The Rigged Game: Corporate America and a People Betrayed, I made several predictions in September 2007. One of them was that a recession would occur sometime between the autumn of 2007 and the summer of 2008. That prediction has obviously come true, but it wasn't that big of a deal when you consider I made that prediction in the autumn of 2006. All recessions follow the same patterns as outlined in my book, and it was obvious that we were on our way to another one two years ago.
I wrote several articles about the coming recession along with my predictions, and not even the good liberals at http://www.alternet.org/, http://www.commondreams.org/, or Amy Goodman's website were willing to publish it.
Now here is where things become more interesting. I predicted this recession would be at least as bad as the downturn of 1981-82 based on the horrible job creation machine under the Republican Bush administration, the decline of family income, the continued transfer of income and wealth from working people to the rich, and the likely bursting of the housing market. The recession of the early eighties was the worst since the Great Depression. This current crisis will beat it thanks to Republican Party economics.
In September 2007, a conservative wealth manager asked me to write some of my predictions. I said we were heading into a recession; the Dow Jones could drop below 8,000 and possibly even 6,000. The Dow fell below 8000 today, October 10, 2008.
I also wrote the economy will flirt with, and possibly fall into deflation. Inflation is cooling, signaling the coming of deflation. If the economy moves into it, the result will be the worst business downturn since the Great Depression, and possibly as bad as parts of that.
By the way, in September 2007, I predicted the unemployment rate would rise to between six and twelve percent. We hit 6.1 percent two months ago.
One final note; this is a Republican created recession. It has been brought about the work of its elites to transfer more and more income and wealth from working people throughout the world to their base, "the have and the have mores." Their proposals to fix their problem are foolish.
Right now there are crack head intellectuals working for the Republican Party trying to place the blame for the housing meltdown on a small, poverty stricken community organizing group called ACORN. Barack Obama has tenuous and distant ties to that organization. So obviously the current recession has been caused by Obama and ACORN according to these intellectual crack heads of the Republican Party.
I wrote several articles about the coming recession along with my predictions, and not even the good liberals at http://www.alternet.org/, http://www.commondreams.org/, or Amy Goodman's website were willing to publish it.
Now here is where things become more interesting. I predicted this recession would be at least as bad as the downturn of 1981-82 based on the horrible job creation machine under the Republican Bush administration, the decline of family income, the continued transfer of income and wealth from working people to the rich, and the likely bursting of the housing market. The recession of the early eighties was the worst since the Great Depression. This current crisis will beat it thanks to Republican Party economics.
In September 2007, a conservative wealth manager asked me to write some of my predictions. I said we were heading into a recession; the Dow Jones could drop below 8,000 and possibly even 6,000. The Dow fell below 8000 today, October 10, 2008.
I also wrote the economy will flirt with, and possibly fall into deflation. Inflation is cooling, signaling the coming of deflation. If the economy moves into it, the result will be the worst business downturn since the Great Depression, and possibly as bad as parts of that.
By the way, in September 2007, I predicted the unemployment rate would rise to between six and twelve percent. We hit 6.1 percent two months ago.
One final note; this is a Republican created recession. It has been brought about the work of its elites to transfer more and more income and wealth from working people throughout the world to their base, "the have and the have mores." Their proposals to fix their problem are foolish.
Right now there are crack head intellectuals working for the Republican Party trying to place the blame for the housing meltdown on a small, poverty stricken community organizing group called ACORN. Barack Obama has tenuous and distant ties to that organization. So obviously the current recession has been caused by Obama and ACORN according to these intellectual crack heads of the Republican Party.
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