Are Wall Street speculators driving up gasoline prices?
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/68552.html
Oil and gasoline prices are rising fast as Memorial Day weekend approaches, but not because supplies are tight or demand is high.
U.S. crude-oil inventories are at their highest levels in almost two decades, and demand has fallen to a 10-year low, but crude oil prices have climbed more than 70 percent since mid-January to a six-month high of $62.04 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, although refiners are operating at less than 85 percent of capacity, which leaves them plenty of room to churn out more gasoline if demand rises during the summer driving season, the price of gasoline at the pump has climbed 28 cents a gallon from a month earlier to $2.33.
This time, Wall Street speculators — some of them recipients of billions of dollars in taxpayers' bailout money — may be to blame.
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Gasoline is too important to the economy and national security to allow its availability and price point to fluctuate according to the vagaries of an easily manipulated market in which foreign players hold sway.
Showing posts with label gas prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gas prices. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday, December 11, 2008
$1 a Gallon: a meditation
Some say this could happen in the very near future. I agree.
I am saddened the way our government allows energy to be traded and speculated upon when everything else in the economy is so critically dependent upon the availability and cost of energy. It really is a matter of national security that we become energy independent by whatever means necessary.
Many of us are learning the hard way that we simply don't need many of the things we foolishly thought we needed until now. Most of life's true treasures are right in front of you if you have the wisdom to appreciate them.
Save. Conserve. Never Waste.
The things you own end up owning you.
I am saddened the way our government allows energy to be traded and speculated upon when everything else in the economy is so critically dependent upon the availability and cost of energy. It really is a matter of national security that we become energy independent by whatever means necessary.
Many of us are learning the hard way that we simply don't need many of the things we foolishly thought we needed until now. Most of life's true treasures are right in front of you if you have the wisdom to appreciate them.
Save. Conserve. Never Waste.
The things you own end up owning you.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Update: Gas Prices + More Bold Predictions!
Two months ago, I predicted:
Bold Prediction 1: Gas will drop below $3 a gallon by 2010.
Bold Prediction 2: Gas will drop below $2 a gallon by 2012.
Well, my time table was all bOrked. Today prices were below $2.90 in my town.
My new bold prediction is that this is the end of the oil era as we know it. There will be unsteady growth in renewable energies until oil is but one of many possible energies in use, but oil will never again dominate energy concerns as it has in the past.
OPEC's days are numbered. Tick-tock, assholes!
My second bold prediction is that we haven't even touched the surface of the individual energy independence that will soon flourish. I predict most people will be, or could be, off the grid in a generation's time.
My third bold prediction is that the sustainable food movement will eventually take the form of high yield "victory gardens" and that the era of the well-manicured lawn is over. People will use backyards as their primary food source and they will even raise their own livestock. This is predicated on both water politics and home economics.
My fourth bold prediction is that families will have a stay at home partner again. Unless all parties have high paying jobs outside of the home it is simply wiser for one partner to stay at home and tend to matters domestic, do the gardening, and possibly even raise children.
These are all actually related predictions if you think about it for 10 seconds.
Bold Prediction 1: Gas will drop below $3 a gallon by 2010.
Bold Prediction 2: Gas will drop below $2 a gallon by 2012.
Well, my time table was all bOrked. Today prices were below $2.90 in my town.
My new bold prediction is that this is the end of the oil era as we know it. There will be unsteady growth in renewable energies until oil is but one of many possible energies in use, but oil will never again dominate energy concerns as it has in the past.
OPEC's days are numbered. Tick-tock, assholes!
My second bold prediction is that we haven't even touched the surface of the individual energy independence that will soon flourish. I predict most people will be, or could be, off the grid in a generation's time.
My third bold prediction is that the sustainable food movement will eventually take the form of high yield "victory gardens" and that the era of the well-manicured lawn is over. People will use backyards as their primary food source and they will even raise their own livestock. This is predicated on both water politics and home economics.
My fourth bold prediction is that families will have a stay at home partner again. Unless all parties have high paying jobs outside of the home it is simply wiser for one partner to stay at home and tend to matters domestic, do the gardening, and possibly even raise children.
These are all actually related predictions if you think about it for 10 seconds.
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