Speculators, not supply/demand, made oil so expensive... (Al Gore, Congress, Iraq)

[island atoll]

Crude is $40/ a barrel now. In July, it was $147/ barrel. I don't think demand has dropped that much, do you?

Al Gore and the far left has to regroup now and think of another conspiracy to scare us.

[SlickRick1]

It certainly wasn't as much supply and demand as they would let you believe. Speculation was a part of it, however, I see it more as an excuse to shift the blame.
The oil industry wants us to use that as the only excuse, it completely bales them out. Hey don't look at us, it was you would insisted it would go up for such and such a reason and now we'll put it up. I bet if the speculation was reversed for oil prices being lowered, I hardly doubt the oil industry would say, hey such and such said this might bring the price of crude oil down, maybe we should lower it. I can't imagine that would ever be the case.
The bottom line is there have been record profits in the last couple of years for and in the oil industry. They have let the media spoon feed us different excuses for their profit. The only reason why it is lower now is because they feared that the government began talks about regulating the amount of profits for which they could make. When the government started talking about potential regulations on what type of profit they can make. It was only then when they feared regulations and laws would be put in place by congress to prevent them from making huge profits of of the people in our struggling economy. They knew we were being taken advantage of and that the government was intervening to stop that.
The sad reality is that it will be down long enough for Congress to forget about regulating it, then prices will go back up, until the next congressional scare.

[cousinsal]

Speculation - pure and simple.

We ought not to allow any speculation on necessities. It's disgusting what these greedy people do - it's all for just themselves, and they give not a whit of thought to their fellow citizens. Greedy bastards.

[mcmastersteve]

It's interesting how people throw 'evil speculator' around as if this is someone criminal when indeed speculation is simple a natural event in the boom and bust cycle of the economy. Webster's dictionary defines speculator as someone who assumes a business risk in hope of gain.
Speculators provide the economy a great benefit plainly by taking extra surplus commodities out of the trading market in times of plenty and re-offering them when there is a shortage.
A recent example was offered during the Hurricane Katrina crisis when FEMA was screwing up large and the national guard was unavailable due to Iraq, Speculators in the form of businessmen brought in food and essentials for sale to the public which occured within hours after the storm waters retreated. This 'evil' men trying to earn a living by charging what the market could bare were often the only source of supplies to affected communities.
I would rather pay $5 for a bottle of water from one speculator than sitting around dying of thirst waiting for incompetant government officials to get their act together.

[harborlady]

cousin & slick
Not so completely off the mark but here's a bit of clarification. Speculators are in the commodities market, not necessarily IN the oil industry, although there are convenient relationships that occur. Oil industry gets passive profit (same work more pay) every time the price goes up so they won't argue. Sometimes they'll even sit still to help it along. When congressional investigations started the hole in the pipe started closing up because all guilty parties had to behave themselves.

Greedy bastards is correct, just know it's not as straightforward as a company or a name. A rewards system can be played many ways and not all of it is constructive.

mcmaster
The difference between organized crime and a corporation would be?

[mcmastersteve]

Very simple answer, the level of coercion involved.
In a libertarian environment a corporation would have only the same rights as an individual and could be sued. If a corporation forced an individual to behave in a involuntary way by use of threat or intimidation particularly when the corporation has monopolized a resource through government assisted sanctions.
An example would be a situation where the government dictates who and when a supplier can sell to a buyer, such as the recent unethical banning of shorting in the stock market, which currently is the best way to salvage losses.
Obviously organized state and private crime uses all forms of coercion including torture such as Guantanamo and blackwater and extortion.

[harborlady]

And cornered markets.

[Thatguywho]

well if you had done that 'short thing' and got someone to go to contract at 100 a barrel back in april, for this month, you would be making about 60 bucks a barrel on that deal now.
I think you buy them in minnimum batches of 10,000 barrels.

You could have made a lot. I would have done it, but i do not have near that kind of money...

[xS☺B☺s]

Energy is as vital to economic life as oxygen is to organic life. The means to produce abundant clean energy is not beyond our present capabilities. The problem is that an obsolete profiteering system of energy delivery is deliberately obstructing progress entirely to self-perpetuate. Does anyone here actually believe the California Energy crisis or the recent gas spike was anything less than market manipulation?

We have the means to provide abundant cheap clean energy. The heat of the Sahara Desert could power half the world by itself. Exxon, oil wars, all that could be history in ten years if we just decide to do so. And then what would happen? Well, all the manpower devoted to petroleum production could refocus their labors to other equally vital issues like finding the cure. Imagine ...

[texdav]

So how does that explain that when demand goes down the cost has dropped so much. Every expert has explained this and congress has investiagated to death.Why would we even be coinsidering more expensive alternatives?I don't see why the world isn't investing in these easy solution you talk about.Why because even with the alternatives produced thus far not one amounts to 1% individually.Dream on.