Comments on: Commodities Casino Keeps Rolling

By: jz1861

jz1861 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:37:44 +0000

Here is more raw data to support your claim that the oil markets are being fixed.

U.S. oil production is up 15% year over year. The amount of oil stored in the U.S. is up 6%. Demand for oil products is down 5%, and to me, the total amount of oil we import is down a staggering 20%. These numbers all come from the U.S. Department of Energy.

As for the world, the EIA puts out a short term outlook, STEO. The world’s spare capacity in oil ranged from 1 to 2 million barrels per day from 2002 to mid 2008. As of today, the world has spare oil capacity of 4 million barrels per day.

The bottom line is that world oil supply and capacity are at record levels while demand has fallen off a cliff in the past year. If the laws of supply and demand were followed, oil should be lower than its price in 2002, when oil was between $20 and $30 a barrel.

I find it interesting that when Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were fighting for their collective lives oil went from $147 to $30 a barrel.

At some point, the taxpayer is going to have to ask why he is giving these two companies loans at 1 and 2% interest, and these companies in turn have doubled the price of gasoline from $1.50 to $3. Why the taxpayer is lending Morgan and Goldman money is beyond me.

By: ontherock

ontherock — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:17:52 +0000

Matt
Look at the gold chart: predictions go as high as 2,500 – sounds oily, doesn’t it?
Christian

By: stoverny

stoverny — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:56:44 +0000

The rise in the price of oil (and other commodities) is due to the Fed’s ongoing quest to destroy the value of the US dollar.

The US dollar has been tanking and is hovering near all-time lows. The spike in other so-called “risk assets” (including the ridiculous stock market rally) has directly correlated with the decline in value of the US dollar.

It is the mother of all carry trades, and will eventually end in disaster when it inevitably unwinds.

Karl Denninger writes quite a lot about this on his Market Ticker blog:

http://www.market-ticker.org/archives/1612-Strong-Dollar-Lies.html

By: westcoastliberal

westcoastliberal — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:04:27 +0000

Keep up the great reporting Matt. We’re getting screwed daily in both ends from the Wall St. hustlers, big banks and private insurers. Don’t even get me started on defense contractors. Their enablers are the suck-ass so called “representatives” in Congress who are beholden to the big money. Until we figure out a way to remove campaign donations as a factor in our political system, I’m afraid we will continue the screwing, especially of the middle class.

By: nojabs

nojabs — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:22:20 +0000

Matt,

We are getting severely Chemtrail sprayed from the sky morning, noon and night here in Los Angeles. I am also getting reports from around the world that the spraying is being ramped up in other countries as well. Are you aware of this worldwide operation? Please go on YouTube to learn more. Many of us are very concerned that a killer flu virus is getting ready to be launched on us and it is related to the Chemtrail spraying. Any time that you have to investigate this would be greatly appreciated.

Many people in Ukraine, where they are experiencing an outbreak of Pnuemonic Hemorraghic Flu, reported low flying helicopters spraying before the outbreak. Joseph Moshe, a microbiologist who called in to a radio show to warn that Baxter Pharm. was getting ready to launch a bioweapon in Ukraine,
was captured here in L.A. in a high speed chase captured on television, where he was tear gassed, tasered and hauled away. No one knows where he is right now.

http://www.ken-welch.com/Commentary/Pandemic1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jemRjFzZy7M

By: willmorton

willmorton — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:35:41 +0000

It’s not just speculative madness… the market is starting to price in the fact that much of the world’s reserve figures are significantly overstated – see guardian today, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/peak-oil-international-energy-agency

By: becci

becci — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:15:20 +0000

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By: becci

becci — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:15:03 +0000

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Becci

By: robertkirsch

robertkirsch — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:49:39 +0000

That’s not quite the point, though. It seems, rather, that this is a jab at the fantasy that there is a purity in the neoclassical synthesis and that supply and demand are not part of a rigged game. In other words, free market my foot.

By: demerder

demerder — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:43:53 +0000

“So demand for crude is down so much that we’re actually closing refineries in this country, but the price of crude is up 150% since the beginning of the year. Makes sense, right?”

If I remember correctly, oil companies are not required to provide you cheap gasoline.

It’s no different than the only gas station in the Mojave. Don’t like 5 dollar gasoline? Buh-Bye!