Chaotic Coffee Klatch (tea also available)

I don’t totally blame oil companies. I think We made a bad decision to allow individuals and large investment groups to speculate on commodity futures. As soon as some talking head says “Gas will be $7.00 a gallon “ it becomes self fulfilling prophecy. They should limit who can buy and sell futures to wholesale producers and consumers of the commodity.

Maybe I don’t understand the nuances, but it seems to make sense.
Ok this is my better answer

Yeah, speculation has something to do with it, but there's a lot of research that shows that it's less than one thinks. And there are also considerable savings that come from the ability of firms to hedge risk that way...like airline companies can give you better prices because they know what their costs are going forward, etc. That's part of the problem-- people see the bad but not the good. Like, right now, everyone's EVIL OIL COMPANIES YOU SHOULD GIVE BACK PROFITS. And sure, wouldn't hurt, but when oil prices fell a ton over the last years and lots of companies lost a ton, no one was saying, awwww big losses, we should subsidize you. I mean, everyone hates big oil, and I do too, but let's be rational.* It's really hard to legally limit who can buy and sell things, though.

There are a lot of things going on right now. The biggest one is that even though the US is not really dependent on foreign oil, oil is a fungible commodity and thus what happens in the European energy market has a huge impact, and Russia basically sucks. And the US kicked out too much stimulus money, in a way, and so demand is high, and all of that together has to raise oil prices. Plus people forget that oil is not the same as gasoline. High oil prices will drive up gasoline prices, but gas prices go up for other reasons, like disruptions to refining, and there have been a bunch of those.

But you are totally right that belief in $7 gas will create $7 gas, although maybe not quite as clearly as it would be if gas could be more easily stored. Just like if everyone acts like we're in a recession, we will be.

*remember the anthrax scare? The company that produces Cipro, the best antibiotic for that, offered to give the gov't all they wanted at cost.But people screamed because they hate big pharma (and again, who doesn't?) because they thought they should have given it for free. But really that makes no sense.
 
Oh Uhura... no😔 Beam her up God. Just Kirk and Sulu now.
Imagine
Seeing the future
And not seeing yourself
Not seeing your skin
Your face
Your lips
Your hair
And then
There you are
There is your mother
Your sister
Your aunt
Your friends
You
Gorgeous
Brilliant
Legs for days
On a Spaceship
A Lieutenant
Communications Officer
Fourth in Command
Martin Luther King shouting your praises
A star in the stars
Shattering ceilings
Soaring
Imagine how the future opened up
Imagine the dreams that were born
Imagine the first time a little girl saw
Herself
In the heavens
And shouted…
“Come quick,come quick, there’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid” ~ a young Whoopi Goldberg who would one day be Guinan

Uhuru means Freedom
Nyota Uhura was a Liberation
Nichelle Nichols was a Revolution
She lived long
She prospered
She inspired
She planted us
In Infinite Galaxies
She made the future
Black
And Female
We are eternally grateful
For the Legacy
That Graced our screens
Our hearts
Our hopes
In a Red Starfleet Uniform

Hailing frequencies are open

Brown Girl Brown Girl
What do you see
I see a future that looks like me

LesléHonoréPoetry
#RIPNichelleNichols
 
Ok this is my better answer

Yeah, speculation has something to do with it, but there's a lot of research that shows that it's less than one thinks. And there are also considerable savings that come from the ability of firms to hedge risk that way...like airline companies can give you better prices because they know what their costs are going forward, etc. That's part of the problem-- people see the bad but not the good. Like, right now, everyone's EVIL OIL COMPANIES YOU SHOULD GIVE BACK PROFITS. And sure, wouldn't hurt, but when oil prices fell a ton over the last years and lots of companies lost a ton, no one was saying, awwww big losses, we should subsidize you. I mean, everyone hates big oil, and I do too, but let's be rational.* It's really hard to legally limit who can buy and sell things, though.

There are a lot of things going on right now. The biggest one is that even though the US is not really dependent on foreign oil, oil is a fungible commodity and thus what happens in the European energy market has a huge impact, and Russia basically sucks. And the US kicked out too much stimulus money, in a way, and so demand is high, and all of that together has to raise oil prices. Plus people forget that oil is not the same as gasoline. High oil prices will drive up gasoline prices, but gas prices go up for other reasons, like disruptions to refining, and there have been a bunch of those.

But you are totally right that belief in $7 gas will create $7 gas, although maybe not quite as clearly as it would be if gas could be more easily stored. Just like if everyone acts like we're in a recession, we will be.

*remember the anthrax scare? The company that produces Cipro, the best antibiotic for that, offered to give the gov't all they wanted at cost.But people screamed because they hate big pharma (and again, who doesn't?) because they thought they should have given it for free. But really that makes no sense.
Oh my gosh I love your smarts. 🥰
That is all 😂
 
Imagine
Seeing the future
And not seeing yourself
Not seeing your skin
Your face
Your lips
Your hair
And then
There you are
There is your mother
Your sister
Your aunt
Your friends
You
Gorgeous
Brilliant
Legs for days
On a Spaceship
A Lieutenant
Communications Officer
Fourth in Command
Martin Luther King shouting your praises
A star in the stars
Shattering ceilings
Soaring
Imagine how the future opened up
Imagine the dreams that were born
Imagine the first time a little girl saw
Herself
In the heavens
And shouted…
“Come quick,come quick, there’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid” ~ a young Whoopi Goldberg who would one day be Guinan

Uhuru means Freedom
Nyota Uhura was a Liberation
Nichelle Nichols was a Revolution
She lived long
She prospered
She inspired
She planted us
In Infinite Galaxies
She made the future
Black
And Female
We are eternally grateful
For the Legacy
That Graced our screens
Our hearts
Our hopes
In a Red Starfleet Uniform

Hailing frequencies are open

Brown Girl Brown Girl
What do you see
I see a future that looks like me

LesléHonoréPoetry
#RIPNichelleNichols
You know the story, right? That she was going to quit Star Trek, and MLK told her that she absolutely couldn't? I love that. Epic. Everything about her was like that.
 
Imagine
Seeing the future
And not seeing yourself
Not seeing your skin
Your face
Your lips
Your hair
And then
There you are
There is your mother
Your sister
Your aunt
Your friends
You
Gorgeous
Brilliant
Legs for days
On a Spaceship
A Lieutenant
Communications Officer
Fourth in Command
Martin Luther King shouting your praises
A star in the stars
Shattering ceilings
Soaring
Imagine how the future opened up
Imagine the dreams that were born
Imagine the first time a little girl saw
Herself
In the heavens
And shouted…
“Come quick,come quick, there’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid” ~ a young Whoopi Goldberg who would one day be Guinan

Uhuru means Freedom
Nyota Uhura was a Liberation
Nichelle Nichols was a Revolution
She lived long
She prospered
She inspired
She planted us
In Infinite Galaxies
She made the future
Black
And Female
We are eternally grateful
For the Legacy
That Graced our screens
Our hearts
Our hopes
In a Red Starfleet Uniform

Hailing frequencies are open

Brown Girl Brown Girl
What do you see
I see a future that looks like me

LesléHonoréPoetry
#RIPNichelleNichols
First interracial kiss on TV. I love this. Thank you💖
 
Ok this is my better answer

Yeah, speculation has something to do with it, but there's a lot of research that shows that it's less than one thinks. And there are also considerable savings that come from the ability of firms to hedge risk that way...like airline companies can give you better prices because they know what their costs are going forward, etc. That's part of the problem-- people see the bad but not the good. Like, right now, everyone's EVIL OIL COMPANIES YOU SHOULD GIVE BACK PROFITS. And sure, wouldn't hurt, but when oil prices fell a ton over the last years and lots of companies lost a ton, no one was saying, awwww big losses, we should subsidize you. I mean, everyone hates big oil, and I do too, but let's be rational.* It's really hard to legally limit who can buy and sell things, though.

There are a lot of things going on right now. The biggest one is that even though the US is not really dependent on foreign oil, oil is a fungible commodity and thus what happens in the European energy market has a huge impact, and Russia basically sucks. And the US kicked out too much stimulus money, in a way, and so demand is high, and all of that together has to raise oil prices. Plus people forget that oil is not the same as gasoline. High oil prices will drive up gasoline prices, but gas prices go up for other reasons, like disruptions to refining, and there have been a bunch of those.

But you are totally right that belief in $7 gas will create $7 gas, although maybe not quite as clearly as it would be if gas could be more easily stored. Just like if everyone acts like we're in a recession, we will be.

*remember the anthrax scare? The company that produces Cipro, the best antibiotic for that, offered to give the gov't all they wanted at cost.But people screamed because they hate big pharma (and again, who doesn't?) because they thought they should have given it for free. But really that makes no sense.
I never considered all this. Thank you
 
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