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Black Gold
By mentor24 | June 4, 2008
So how about the price of gas lately, huh? Feeling it? Yeah, me too. And like me, you probably have the same question: Why?
What has caused the price of gas to skyrocket over the last couple years, and especially over the last few months? I’ve been reading up on it a bit, and I have a theory.
We’ve heard the Saudis and the big oil executives blame much of the price spike primarily on speculation on the futures market, and though I’m not inclined to trust either of those two groups, I think they’re right.
In fact, that seems to be pretty much the consensus. Estimates vary. Some say speculation accounts for 25% of the price. Others think it is much higher. In a CNNMoney article, Michael Greenburger, a former official of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission said “We’re paying, some believe, as high as a 50% premium to the pockets of speculators that are operating in markets that are completely unpoliced. At least 70% of the US crude oil market is driven by speculators and not people with commercial interests.”
Outrageous! That means for every gallon of gas we all buy, we’re paying about a buck to a bunch of slick traders who are gambling that gas is gonna just keep going up. So they buy a bunch now, planning to sell it later after the price rises. And it is their own speculation that is making the price go up! So is this market speculation? Or market manipulation?
I don’t know. But I do believe that the people who are doing this trading exhibit sociopathic tendencies. They’re only interested in their own personal gain regardless of the pain inflicted on countless others. They’re they same type of people who worked as traders for Enron and whose voices were recorded on the riveting documentary “The Smartest Guys in the Room”
I really hope that this bubble somehow pops and many of these traders get soaked in their own oil. But according to the CNN article, George Soros, (who knows a thing or two about trading and speculation), thinks that the bubble may not burst until the economy sinks into full-blown recession. Then demand will drop because everyone’s trucks have been repossessed.
So is oil speculation going to cause the downfall of western civilization? Not by itself. It’s just another straw on the camel’s back. The really ominous part of this for me is the fact that there are people in the world who, with full understanding of what they are doing, are willing to cause great harm to everyone else just for cash and power. They’re smart. Their ruthless. And they control our world.
Technorati Tags: gas, oil, saudi arabia, george soros, enron, market manipulation, recession, economyEarth 4 Energy
Topics: Economy |