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Crude Oil Rises Above $108 to Record

6K views 98 replies 35 participants last post by  logansowner 
#1 ·
Crude Oil Rises Above $108 to Record

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $108 a barrel in New York to a record as investors purchased futures because the returns have outpaced those of financial markets.

Oil in New York surged 80 percent over the past year as the S&P 500 and Dow averages dropped. China, the second-biggest oil- consuming country, increased crude-oil imports by 18 percent last month and halted overseas shipments to meet rising demand.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=astD3YDL_ma4&refer=home
 
#2 ·
So we have a supply constraint and increased demand. Lovely.
So, the US should increase domestic production if possible to offset it. And work with allied nations to get more oil.

However, it would behoove the US oil companies to work on alternative fuels.
 
#3 ·
So we have a supply constraint and increased demand. Lovely.
So, the US should increase domestic production if possible to offset it. And work with allied nations to get more oil.

However, it would behoove the US oil companies to work on alternative fuels.
The article said that investors were flooding oil futures because the "returns were outpacing stocks". Sounds like a bubble to me.
 
#8 ·
Now you know where all the housing speculators went.
First dot coms, then housing, now commodities. This too will crash...
 
#15 ·
so who created this futures market? sounds like a load of bs to me, they do nothing except make it worse for all of us who pay for gas, a$$holes
This ain't nothin' new. For example, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board.
As they say on the Exchange, buy low, sell high.... if you want one, get your FS SUV before the crash.
 
#21 ·
I take it then, the 'commandos' are the greedy-as-hell CEO's who get outrageous bonuses, make record profits and take golden parachutes......good metaphor there...

Yep, and every time I do I press the accellerator down a little further! :p:
Right on! :drive:
 
#19 ·
We've seen gold go crazy before... years ago it went to $800 an ounce, a princely sum back in the day. Silver went up even more.... all due to speculation.

Then it took a big 'ol dump.
 
#24 ·
But we don't fill our tanks with gold...well, gold gold anyway. Not everyone needs or wants gold...just about everyone needs 'oil', and the price of oil affects everything we do or buy, that can't be said for gold.
 
#22 ·
The dollar's dropped what, 25%?
This run-up's a lot bigger than that... that is speculation at work.
It could also go a hell of a lot higher before the rats jump ship...
 
#30 · (Edited)
From the end of 2000 til now the run up of the euro vs the US$ has been from

0.86 US$ = 1.0 E at the end of 2000
to now where
1.54 US$ = 1.0 E...

That means that it only cost us $0.86 back in 2000 to buy one Euro, but now it costs us $1.54 to buy that same one Euro. That's a 79% devaluation. Not 25%.

This is not a short term fluctuation.. this is deadly serious economic trends. Every week we get poorer and poorer relative to the other western nations. Here's the 12 yr graph since the two currencies began trading. The graph is well above its all time high ( meaning the US$ is well below its lowest value ever and it keeps going lower ).
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investo...=0&CF=0&D7=&D6=&symbol=/EURUS&nocookie=1&SZ=0

BTW although you may be too young to remember we ( the US ) used to make fun of those 'troubled nations' that had economic difficulties making their currencies more and more worthless every month. Argentina was such an example back in the 70s. We are not at that level - yet. But to turn things around it will take an awful lot of credit crunching and individual pain. It always does.
 
#25 ·
A few years ago we choose to sold one of our cars and we moved closer to our workplaces. We gone from 40 000 km/year to barely 12 000. We kept the most fuel efficient car and we changed our driving habits. We gone from using 3000 L of fuel to 800 L. Many people we knew thought that we were just «cheap» and/or econazis. But now, with gas over 1,15 $/L, I'm glad we moved. We are saving over 2 500 $/year
 
#26 ·
Too bad some of us down here don't think that way. Of course, with the housing slump we'd have a tough time selling to move closer. Drat.
 
#38 ·
Don't forget that once Katrina happened everyone that has any hand in oil/gas production realized what they could charge, so of course no one is in any hurry to change the way things are going. I'm surprised it took that long for them to realize that it doesn't matter what the cost is, we need the stuff. There is no choice to a point. Can't wait for an alternative fuel to come along, the same thing will happen eventually. Especially if there are speculators and big oil/gas involved ( someone has to get the product to the consumers, and they won't want a decrease in profits).
 
#48 ·
Everyone here is assuming that OPEC will do the reasonable thing and loosen the screws on the production quotas (which the OPEC nations have been sticking to by some miracle of god). They have publicly said that they won't. Skyrocketing demand for oil in China and India will more than eat up the slack generated by the US recession.

Generally the reduction of fuel costs helps to lift the US out of recession as it reduces pressure on prices in other market segments and helps to put more cash in pockets of consumers as they benefit from lower fuel prices. That might not happen this time.

Get ready for Stagflation: The Sequel... this time without oil embargo.
 
#57 ·
I know I'm not assuming OPEC will produce more oil. I think they'd be stupid to, actually. If I were in their position, I'd be doing exactly what they're doing.

The US will come out of a recession when the government stops burdening its people with excessive taxes, when it decides that expanding into every facet of our lives worsens the picture, when it decides that making government bigger is putting the stops in place for the economy. Thatcher and then Reagan accelerated the growth of their economies when they removed the government as much as possible from the picture, when they rightfully acknowledged that corporations run industries far better than government does, when people are left to control more of their money than the government does. That means there will be times when we suffer, like the first three years of Reagan's first administration, but in the long-term we will prosper.
 
#51 ·
Part of it has to do with speculators on Wall Street, they were frightened by the issues in South America, Israel's air strikes (because America backs Israel which ticks off Arab oil producing nations, and the Turkish strikes in northern Iraq. It also has to do with the weakening of the American dollar and the economy, and the fact that we do not have enough oil refineries and that we do no new off shore drilling or drilling in Alaska.
 
#55 ·
Its time to start burying food, guns, and water!

The dollars value worldwide has been cut in half. Oil at $108. Record spending with no end in site, Obama/Clinton expected to add $880 billion/ year. SS and medicare are essentially bankrupt. The housing crisis. Next up auto loans, record repos already. People are flooding out of dollar backed treasuries to anything else. And on, and on, and on...

Its the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. (I love that song.)
 
#56 ·
I think the best way to solve the problem is let the market figure it out. The higher the price goes the more likely it is for a middle class person to choose a high mpg vehicle for their commuter car. People who drive a lot are going to be most affected, while others who say commute less are going to be less affected.

Auto companies who bring out cost effective solutions are going to score big in the marketplace. Maybe even a new arrival, like when the Japanese broke into our market with small cars during the last big oil price rise.
 
#61 ·
If the prius is so good, wouldn't a bicycle be better??? Or better yet lets all walk! Oh wait, nobody lives less than 20 miles from where they work. Nevermind. : )

Ahhh, who cares. by this time next year Obama/Clinton will have saved us all from ourselves. Cheap gas, lots of jobs magically brought back from overseas, lower taxes. Oops. Lost it with that last one. : /

You can count on one thing, its going to get mighty interesting!
 
#65 ·
Good point about taking many errands. One thing is a person with a family that needs a bunch of things it can save gas to go to a big box retailer and buy 30 different needed items.. then driving between a bunch of spread out smaller stores.

For bicycles, they have battery powered ones that assist when you ride for hills or acceleration.
 
#68 · (Edited)
I no longer have to hop in my car, instead....just hit up Amazon.com
You know, it still has to be delivered by something that uses fuel.
If everyone in America drove a Prius
It would save very little compared to my wife's 2 minute commute.
Not driving a 10 year old full size SUV beats going hybrid every time.
 
#74 ·
So, all you V8 lovers still feelin' good?

First off, don't try to make any excuses. There are none. If we had put the research into electric 15 years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess. I have friends who have to apply for foodstamps because they can't afford their commute and there aren't any jobs available closer.

Ethanol? Yeah, right. Let's see, oil prices rise, making it tough for people to make ends meet. "Let's make more ethanol!!" the people scream. Well, sure, let's make more ethanol. Demand for corn increases, and speculators drive up the price. Now people can't feed their families.

Oil is a poison and it's time for it to go. Greed. That's what this comes down to. Simple greed. Now, if oil were NOT a tradeable commodity we wouldn't be having this issue. Hmmm....greed...uncontrolled capitalism....

Coincidence? Perhaps capitalism should have caps on just how much money people can make. Do people really need to make 400 million a year while the people who do the actual work have trouble feeding their families?

America the beautiful? No. America the gluttonous. America the greedy.

America....the apathetic...and now...

Pathetic.

The meek of this country will not take this for long....mark my words.

They got fed up in the late 1700's and it will happen again...
 
#77 ·
You have got to be ****ting me...seriously.....you can't be.


1: Maybe your friends should buy a smaller vehicle

2: Ethanol production will be mostly cellulistic, meaning NOT from corn

3: Of course it's about greed, don't like it, buy a smaller vehicle and invest in oil like those ever so evil people are already doing. You think we should limit capitalism huh? Great, and then we can move to China. I'll bring the tea.

4: Capitalism should not be limited, those CEO's make that 400 million because they went to university and worked their butts off to get there. Maybe the people who can't afford to feed their families should have gone to college too.

I seriously can't believe your post. We should just increase taxes to fed your poor friends, that's it! By George, more taxes....problem solved.
 
#76 ·
I have friends who have to apply for foodstamps because they can't afford their commute and there aren't any jobs available closer.
There's this concept called "moving van" that I used when I was younger and changed jobs. Worked pretty good.
 
#81 ·
For some reason the "friends having to get foodstamps" post is reminding me of the famous Sam Kinison routine about Ethiopians.

"If you really want to help starving Ethiopian kids, then stop sending your money. Instead, send some U-Haul trucks to take the people where the food is."
 
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