The Real Price of Oil

re: The Real Price of Oil

Komic Kaze — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:22:53 GMT

If everyone started to live greener, there wouldn't be an energy problem. But most people in America want more. They want everything their parents didn't have. They want 56 inch televisions with plasma screens and high definition. They want big SUVs with gas guzzling tanks. They want to feel powerful. The real problem here is consumption. If people found a way to work closer to home and not drive around for no reason, we might be able to bring down the price of oil. But I am pessimistic about this because most Americans and those in developed countries need to show their superiority by having more stuff than the people in second and third-world countries.

re: The Real Price of Oil

Te4t0n — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:37:18 GMT

You should all check out:

www.chrismartenson.com

This guy knows what he is talking about.

re: The Real Price of Oil

marky56 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:43:48 GMT

The Constitution specifically states that Congress shall have the power to "coin" money and "regulate its value thereof". This means to my understanding that the amount of metal in a coin was to be regulated by the Congress, and its value ipso facto would be manipulatable by the Congressional decision to "regulate", or 'set' its value.

re: The Real Price of Oil

John Vescuso — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:06:59 GMT

Gusher of Lies The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence,"

The Green movement wind mills solar power and such . Wind mills are not cost effective they leak oil any live stock near them lick the oil and die because it is sweet tasting. The cables that tie into the electric grid are not coast effective very expensive Mr.Pickings big advertisement we can beat oil is a big fat lie, he is after the government subsides for doing Wind Mill farms.

Solar the 1% Solution

Solar Panels are expensive - the companies that sell them say you can recoupe your investment in 13 years ? After 2 years of operation it is clear that in order to recover an investment about $8,000( total cost &22,445) it will take over 19 years and that is with not cost of capital, if I had borrowed $8,000,even at a low interest rate, the loan payment would be double the monthly savings in electricity cost. Killer drawback to Solar is it's intermittency, Lower power output on cloudy day's and during winter - zero out at night - means that solar power must be pared with expensive batteries and conventional power plants in order to prevent blackouts or brown outs a problem that has confounded scientists for more than a century. European countries are starting to ban wind farms.

There is not way wind and Solar can put out what a nuclear and other plants can put out it is just not feasable.

There is plenty of oil - Sarah Palin speech, " I know all about the north slope and there is plenty their " ! Estimites for about 300 - 400 years of oil reseverves

We need to get the Government out of the Energy Business.

re: The Real Price of Oil

bforrest — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:36:37 GMT

Most of the increases that we see today with oil, can be attributed to market manipulation by futures traders. I deal with commodities and in this day and age, there is more money to be made by these market manipulators than actual supply and demand.

re: The Real Price of Oil

prouddadof2 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:03:33 GMT

It is Rome all over again. We are being controlled by those in power. Big oil, Big Pharma and Big Government to name but a few. Think of all of the controlls that are placed into the system that make it easy to manipulate it while possiblly appering to be beneficial. Look to the root cause of all systems that are out of balance. The root cause is greed, control and power. The devaluation of the American dollar is nothing more than the manipulation of a commodity in order for gain. Who or what stands to gain the most from the devaluation of the American dollar?

re: The Real Price of Oil

taterbug1999 — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:01:50 GMT

I find it funny that I remember a certain presidential candidate spoke about putting actual money behind our money again...A Mr. Paul I believe =). He said until the Fed is gone the dolar will be lower and lower, because they print what they need not what they have gold to back anymore. Paper money in and of itself is a bad idea. He spoke to this too and unfortunately his own party fried him..........figures. Make the dollar worthless then you need more of them to buy the things you need. In truth, things aren't going up, the dollar is being devalued. Correct?

re: The Real Price of Oil

cttf — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:05:33 GMT

Well, you should note that the graph covers a relatively short period of history. During most of the 1980s and 90s, the dollar was appreciating so you would see the reverse happen. Please also note that even against the Euro, oil is up significantly in this decade.

re: The Real Price of Oil

sherbuy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:01:38 GMT

Gold has so many good characteristics; beauty, ruggedness, decorative, malliability, healing, conductive etc. Unfortunately most people do not have as many good qualities. period.

re: The Real Price of Oil

John Vescuso — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:39:20 GMT

Strongly urge you all to read Gusher of Lies The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence," by Robert Brice

Brice reveals the Ethanol Scam, Wind Energy Scam, as well as other false truth's that the media and the green activist are slinging to everyone.

Robert Bryce's work has appeared in numerous publications including Atlantic Monthly, Slate, Salon, American Conservative, Washington Post and The Guardian. He is the managing editor of Energy Tribune and is a contributing writer for the Texas Observer. His third book, Gusher of Lies: . He lives in Austin.

http://www.robertbryce.com/

Robert Bryce's articles have appeared in dozens of publications including the Atlantic Monthly, Slate, New York Times, Washington Post, American Conservative, The Nation, Washington Spectator and The Guardian. His first book, Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron, received rave reviews and was named one of the best non-fiction books of 2002 by Publishers Weekly. His second book, Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate, was published 2004. Bryce spent 12 years writing for the Austin Chronicle.

He now works as the managing editor of Energy Tribune, a Houston-based newsletter. He is also a contributing writer at the Texas Observer.

re: The Real Price of Oil

Islander — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:36:14 GMT

Of interest to this discussion:

“On June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest.

“On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve.

“President Kennedy was assassinated just five months later. No more silver certificates were issued. Executive Order No.11,110 was never repealed by any U.S. president and is still valid. No president since has utilized it.”

video.google.com/videoplay

re: The Real Price of Oil

ChickenFarmer — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:27:32 GMT

When President Nixon took the Dollar completely off the gold reserve, he made a secret deal with OPEC to link the price of oil to gold. A quick look at the chart above gives support to how well that has worked over the last 35 years.

re: The Real Price of Oil

BeeGirl — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:45:03 GMT

stoic, are you a betting man? How much will the price of a gallon of gas go back up between now and the election? I say ten cents or less.

re: The Real Price of Oil

Magnolia — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:17:20 GMT

All money is, is a medium of exchange. Gold has been used for this medium for a long time because it is uncorruptible, malleable, heavy, and I believe, attractive in its refined state, to look at. Its weight is measureable. Although there is a finite supply of it, there is still quite a lot of gold in the world; enough to continue to use it as money for a long time hence.

When the gold standard was abandoned, the US government gained a greater control ( albeit, temporary) over its money supply and valuation. Over time, the fiat money supply grew and value fell. Think if you were playing Monopoly and decided to run out mid-game and buy another gameboard so you could use the extra money. All of a sudden, everyone would have lots more money, but commodity supply didn't increase. There would still be just one Boardwalk. Whoever owned it would be inclined to charge a lot more for it, if someone wanted to buy it, because there was more currency in float.

The same thing is happening with oil. We still have, more or less, the same amount of oil available on the world market. People in the US, generally have more dollars to spend at the moment. There are more millionaires than ever before in the history of this country. But our money is worth much less than it used to be worth. So, oil producers want more of our devalued dollars for a barrel of oil. They aren't really asking for more money, just value for value.

re: The Real Price of Oil

Bob2_203 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:58:26 GMT

One could make the same case for the cost of food. People always complain to me that "organic costs too much". My reply is that, no, the dollar buys too little. Then they say, "organic food is a fad for ignorant yuppies". And then I reply, "all food was organic, oh, 80 years ago," which, not coincidentally, is about the time the world began moving away from specie backed currencies.

The fact is, the food supply keeps getting cheapened by mass production techniques and substitution of inferior ingredients, which helps offset the cost of this food to the public at the expense of health, safety, and nutrition. Actual, real food, often organic these days, accurately reflects the on-going, world-wide debasement of all currencies, as all currencies no longer have any explicit connection to an objective, physical standard.

It's not a question of economic policy, it's much deeper and more fundamental than that. We live in an era of rampant, covert theft and fraud, brought about through the structure of the monetary system itself. Ultimately, it's a moral question, a question of just weights and measures.