Congress to Repeal Law of Supply & Demand!

[amicus]

A conversation on Fox news, the 'panel', discussing the current hearings in Congress concerning speculation in oil futures, pointed out that those buying futures at higher prices and those buying at lower prices, virtually cancel each other out and do not affect the price of crude at all.

Further, it seems that Pension Funds are the major investment sources of money for future contracts in petroleum, along with airline and trucking companies, trying to nail down a future price for fuel to plan ahead.

Following that line of thought, the panel reverted to stating that 'Supply and Demand', was responsible for price escalation and that perhaps Congress should abolish or repeal those laws of market function, supply and demand.

Then they got really silly and predicted the House would vote to abolish supply and the Senate would vote to abolish demand and then the joint resolution between House and Senate would be sent to the President and he would take a poll to see if it matched public opinion.

I wonder sometimes....

ahem...

Amicus....

Edited to add: Now I heard some nitwit Canadian wants to prosecute the oil companies for crimes against humanity if gasoline prices go above $5.00 in America.

Go figure...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

AMICUS

I guessed that someone was using oil in lieu of cash. I suspect, too, the guvmint is doing the same.

 

[shoulderblade]

Following that line of thought, the panel reverted to stating that 'Supply and Demand', was responsible for price escalation and that perhaps Congress should abolish or repeal those laws of market function, supply and demand.

Then they got really silly and predicted the House would vote to abolish supply and the Senate would vote to abolish demand and then the joint resolution between House and Senate would be sent to the President and he would take a poll to see if it matched public opinion.

Wake up someone.

We are running out of oil.

 

[amicus]

Actually we are not.

Ami

 

[R. Richard]

AMICUS

I guessed that someone was using oil in lieu of cash. I suspect, too, the guvmint is doing the same.

Actually, the guvmint is using oil instead of brains. Given the quality of guvmint brains, that may not be an entirely bad thing.

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

Wake up someone.

We are running out of oil.

Actually we are not.

Ami

I agree, we are not. The US has greater oil reserves than any other nation, except Russia and maybe Canada. However, we are not allowed to remove it from the ground.

As for the Law of Supply and Demand: That only applies if there is nothing interfering with it. In this case, OPEC has jacked the price of crude oil artificially high. If the OPEC nations were competing, the price would be lower.

 

[shoulderblade]

Actually we are not.

Ami

True. We are running out of 'in production' oil.

If no one acts on expanding production prices will go up.

No government legislation can get around this.

 

[amicus]

Paraphrasing things I have heard from many sources...even the expectation that exploration and drilling of US sources, mainland, offshore or Alaska will pressure OPEC nations to increase production and decrease per barrel price.

The speculation is that lower crude prices would pressure US concerns, in terms of the dollar and the huge investments necessary to both discover and drill for oil, onshore or off.

Again, only a small percentage of wells produce, many are, 'dry holes', which produce nothing and soak up funds in huge amounts.

Two things, I think neither a R or a D administration will effectively free up the restrictions to the degree it would effectively shorten the entire process.

Secondly, any oil produced down the road, would be on the world market and again, supply and demand would determine market price.

Interesting dilemma, eh?

amicus...

 

[DesertPirate]

The Dems don't want to piss off the tree huggers by allowing offshore or ANWAR drilling. They have too many years being opposed to flip flop now. If we had started drilling 15 years ago, gas would be less than $2.00/gallon today. They have also opposed Nuclear power for 30 years. Every other country that has it stores the waste underground with no problems (ie France, Germany, Sweden...).

 

[Carnevil9]

......Now I heard some nitwit Canadian wants to prosecute the oil companies for crimes against humanity if gasoline prices go above $5.00 in America.....

C'mon, Amicus. Don't be redundant.......Carney (who doesn't dislike all Canadians, but is thinking of one asswipe who once called me a "maggot infested turd" without any provocation whatsoever)

 

[shoulderblade]

As for the Law of Supply and Demand: That only applies if there is nothing interfering with it. In this case, OPEC has jacked the price of crude oil artificially high. If the OPEC nations were competing, the price would be lower.

But the fact is that OPEC is a cartel. They are not competing but working together for what they think are their own intrests. Prices are inflated unless some counter force can relieve the pressure.

Domestic American reserves are the key.

 

[amicus]

Ah, redundancy is one of me favorite pastimes, when I am not a practicing misogynist and homophobe if you believe all the rumors about the one whose name shall not be spoken...

I have seldom heard such continuous tripe as I have from all quarters in recent weeks...I begin to think if people really want relief from the increasingly high cost of living, they are going to have to take matters into their own hands, elect only those who will abolish the restrictive legislation and recall those who will not change.

And if that don't work, Annie get your gun.

Hell of a note, join in if you can sing...

Amicus...

 

[Liar]

Actually we are not.

Ami

Shortest amicus post ever?

Anyway, I'd like to add, and if we were... so? Oil is not air and water. We and the planet don't need it to survive. We have based some of our convenience on it. Necessity is the mother of invention, and if we can't base our convenience on oil, we'll start basing it on something else. Maybe a lack of fossil energy would make the nuclear scare mongers stfu.

 

[Liar]

Edited to add: Now I heard some nitwit Canadian wants to prosecute the oil companies for crimes against humanity if gasoline prices go above $5.00 in America.

It's called attention whoring. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept.

 

[Guest]

It's called attention whoring. I'm sure you're familiar with the concept.

Just choked on my coffee.

(Don't mind me, I'm just here to stalk Liar.)

 

[colddiesel]

Price balances supply/demand

At the moment the demand for oil is greater than the supply available. We are not running out yet but there is a major inbalance of supply /demand which is likely to continue for some time

Supply can be increased with more investment but most future oil will not be cheap. It will cost more to find and more to extract. Higher prices are probably necessary to fund the required investment. Alaska and other offshore sites in the USA will have to be explored as will such sites as Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

However in the short to medium term, because big Government generally see the granting of exploration licences as an opportunity to gouge the exploring entrepreneur and because politicians of all the standard stripes are terrified of the Green lobby, the release of those areas will be very slow.

The fastest response to the current price problems will be a sharp reduction in consumption of Energy in the First World. Americans, Canadians Europeans and Australians have all reduced their oil consumption in the last 6 months but these reductions are going to go much further.

Japan,still the worlds second largest economy uses 41% of the energy per head utilised by North Americans. Japan is, apart from Hydro totally reliant on imported energy whether it be Oil, Coal, Gas or Uranium. They pay the highest prices in the world and have learned to limit their demand. The rest of the world may not be able to match them but we are ingenious enough to get close.

Whining about the Opec is a waste of time. It is in their interests to keep their oil fields going as long as possible and with rampant inflation in a number of middle east economies increasing the amount of money in circulation is a problem for them. They have good reason to take the higher price and keep as much as possible in the ground - and why shouldn't they.

Interesting times! Get used to high prices for all forms of energy.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

COLD-DIESEL

Yes and no. Demand is dropping. American drivers use 5% less gas than last year this time.

But the demand for oil futures is increasing because American business and guvmint is using oil in lieu of credit to store surplus cash in. American drivers need the oil for transportation, and guvmint needs oil as a bank.

Guvmint used your tax dollars to destroy the credit markets and now theyre using your tax dollars to ruin the rest of the economy.

 

[Carnevil9]

COLD-DIESEL

Yes and no. Demand is dropping. American drivers use 5% less gas than last year this time.

Yes and no. Demand for regular gasoline has certainly decreased in response to escalating prices, but not for all petrolium products.

A year ago, and for many years, diesel has been slightly cheaper or equal to gas. Now it is almost a dollar a gallon higher. Why? Because its demand is NOT as elastic. It is primarily used in industrial applications that do not have the options of car-pooling, public transportation, or just staying home. The wheels of industry must continue to turn, so demand can only decrease so much.......Carney

 

[R. Richard]

Worst of all, the price of fuel is beginning to drive other prices up. The cost of food is up and will continue to rise. The machines that modern farms use run on fuel. The fertilizer that modern farms use are made using petroleum products.

The consumer can cut back on driving. Cutting back on food is a bit harder.

 

[Carnevil9]

.....Cutting back on food is a bit harder.

True, but it certainly wouldn't do the average American any harm.

 

[neonlyte]

Worst of all, the price of fuel is beginning to drive other prices up. The cost of food is up and will continue to rise. The machines that modern farms use run on fuel. The fertilizer that modern farms use are made using petroleum products.

The consumer can cut back on driving. Cutting back on food is a bit harder.

Cutting back on food isn't that difficult... but I need a bigger balcony, I'm nearly out of lettuce.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

CARNEY

I agree with you in part. Our society could return to cess-pools and handpumps on the village green, too. We could park the cars, ride ponies, and suffer streets filled with horse-shit and flies. In my childhood you picked up your mail at the post office. I knew a man who lived in the back of a truck.

 

[amicus]

Lightheartedness aside...for a moment, although the situation is so serious, that tears are warranted, perhaps humor is a necessity...

Older than the hills, I wasn't around to urge on ole Tom Edison and that Westinghouse fella when they electrified, (literally speaking) New York, nor was I standing in the breadlines of the early 1930's...but I can read and imagine those times.

Only a few, and I am not speaking of just here on the forum, but nation/worldwide, are fully aware of the impact of limited/restricted/rationed/scarce energy supplies across the board.

It will not be a mere inconvenience to the entire civilized western world, oh, no, much more than that, even for the most affluent.

JBJ makes light of industrial nations grinding to a halt, but the barbarianism has already begun with theft and fraud at all levels and I suggest that the lower realm of all societies will simply not lie down and role over at ten dollar a gallon gasoline, ten dollar a gallon milk and ten dollar a loaf of bread...and if you keep up with things, those commodities are reaching the five dollar level as we speak.

And like it or not, for those of you who have read "Atlas Shrugged", should read it again and those who have not will be amazed to read the similarity predicted by Ayn Rand a full half century ago.

She didn't get it all right, of course, it is a work of fiction, but an educated extrapolation of predictable events, should the anti-industrial left sway opinion and legislation to any great degree, is amazingly accurate.

While airline and trucking and other transportation facilities will create great delay and inconvenience to the public at large, those companies will atrophy, their infrastructure will shrink, normal scheduled maintenance will suffer and you can predict, as did Ms. Rand, the results of unmaintained heavy equipment, the loss of key personnel, the general widespread unemployment that will trickle down to ten dollar Big Mac's that will really piss off all the soccer moms.

If you got the bastard down, keep your foot on his throat, which is why I remind you yet again of the left wing liberal philosophy that put the world in the current crisis.

In the news this morning, Democrats are still shouting, 'no drilling offshore, no nukes, no ANWAR desecration.'

'Nationalize the industry, raise taxes, control, restrict, regulate, all we need is a government program just like putting a man on the moon...'

The tired old litany continues.

And I do love the ladies, but those soft and fuzzy lil critters extend their empathy to the poor lil baby harp seals, whales, spotted owls, snail darters and now the polar bears, protecting them while starving humanity and still don't see the error in their ways.

Such a deal...

Ah well, I have only invested a few years on this forum, while I put forty years into the media, all to to avail, but folks, hey, I did try to warn you what was just over the horizon.

Welcome to your brave new world, you created it, enjoy it!

Amicus...

 

[keeblercrumb]

No, my chicken little friend.... George is YOUR guy....

YOU created this cesspool of a foreign policy and shambles of an economy, and an apparently insatiable desire to enrich his oil industry buds.

Let's travel back in time, shall we? Back to those halcyon days when were last administered by a Bush league president.... The federal deficit careening out of control on the heels of no new taxes and military adventures....

And just taking a flyer here.... but let me guess you were predicting similar disasters from that pinko, commie, blow job loving Clinton fellow...Remember him? "The Demon_crat"?

But damn! Prosperity! High employment! low inflation! Booming economy! Few Americans dying on battlefields! AND at least something like a balanced budget???


Seems so long ago, doesn't it?

Not to worry friend..... Help is on the way.

-KC

 

[amicus]

Ah, in full denial of the peace and love generation that long preceded either Slick Willie or Dubya...and you are wrong, there is no help on the way from either direction.

You're gonna enjoy the fruits of the hippie generation for years and years to come, hunker down boobsie...

ami