Gas is gonna go through the roof.....

[Green lung]

So You guys make this thread every summer or what?

 

[SpasticGramps]

So You guys make this thread every summer or what?

Always can count on you to contribute drivel.

 

[igrowone]

here's the latest numbers i got from cnbc - damn! the times are getting interesting
Most Expensive States
1) $4.51 - Hawaii
2) $4.21 - California
3) $4.18 - Alaska
4) $4.10 - Connecticut
5) $4.08 - Illinois
6) $4.04 - New York

 

[Anita Bonghit]

good thing I use public trans or my bike

 

[SpasticGramps]

China's Jasmine Revolution Is Back: Trucker Strike Hits Shanghai In Protest Over Surging Fuel Costs And Low Wages Video in Link

And now for the latest does of reality from China, which will no doubt be reported by precisely zero of the mainstream media outlets. According to Stratfor, there has been a trucker strike in the Waigaoqiao zone in Shanghai on the morning of April 20. As the attached video reports: "The protests the morning of April 20 were in one of Shanghai’s busiest container ports and they were the result of rising fuel prices and low wages. In 2008, we saw similar strikes over fuel prices as taxi drivers took to the streets across China, highlighting how inflation can easily translate into social issues. These protests come a week after residents gathered in the Sonjiang district in Shanghai on April 13 in protest of cheng guan officials, also known as urban management officials, were said to have beaten a pedestrian in a traffic dispute and Shanghai is also the area where we saw the largest gathering during the Jasmine Movement on February 27." So how much longer will China be able to pretend that its USD-pegged monetary policy, not to mention the Fed's inflation exporting efforts is contained? And how long until China's inability to contain its inflation results in a Tiananmen-lite (or not so lite) redux?

Looks like the party is getting started in China. Takes some serious balls to protest over there.

 

[SpasticGramps]

And here's the establishment's boogie man!

Obama, Holder Declare War On Oil Traders, "Speculators" ZeroHedge

And for today's case of pure unadulterated idiocy:

( RTR ) 04/21 02:30PM OBAMA SAYS HAS ASKED ATTORNEY GENERAL TO CREATE TEAM TO "ROOT OUT" FRAUD, MANIPULATION IN OIL MARKETS THAT COULD HIT GAS PRICES
( RTR ) 04/21 02:31PM OBAMA, IN PREPARED REMARKS, SAYS TEAM'S FOCUS WILL INCLUDE OIL MARKET TRADERS AND SPECULATORS
( RTR ) 04/21 02:31PM OBAMA SAYS WILL MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE IN OIL MARKET IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR THEIR OWN SHORT-TERM GAIN

Number of mentions of the one true satanic culprit for oil price explosion? Zero. For everything else there is scapegoating. And again. And again.

And the next question: how long before executive order XXXXX decides that it is in the national interest to sequester all black gold held in speculative accounts? And how much after that will all gold be confiscated, without prejudice for color?

Q. Who do the speculators work for?

A. The Banks?

Q. Whose pumping liquidity into the big banks and where is it going?
A. The Central Bank. Equities and Commodities.

Q. Who is driving the inflation then?
A. The Central Bank and the Central Planners of the economy. Uncle Benny.

I have post this again. Just because it is so relevant to the situation.

The U.S. is just a third world kleptocracy on an Imperial scale. That is of course a road to ruin: let the Elite plunder at will, protected by the Imperial Central State, tax the productive class to fund the armed forces and free bread, and then buy off the lower class with bread and circuses. The only successful model of reconciliation and justice we have is the "truth commissions" in other post-oppression autocratic kleptocracies. In countries that were deeply divided and poisoned by institutionalized injustice and exploitation, the healing process requires a public, transparent "truth commission" in which the guilty are brought forth to confess their sins against the innocent and face the consequences of their actions. If a society cannot rouse itself to cleanse the fundamental injustice at the heart of its institutions, then it is effectively choosing self-destruction. So far, the U.S. is pursuing the Roman Imperial model with an institutional zeal unmatched since Rome's fall. Embedded institutional injustice has a price, a price which rises with every passing day of propaganda and prevarication. Some day the bill will come due and a terrible price paid in full. For those in power, the only concern is that it not be today or tomorrow.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Wonder what's happened since '07? ^?

 

[Mountain]

Yeah I read that about Obama saying the Justice Department will investigate high gas prices...



I mean why even bother to make an announcement like that? I guess the sheeple in the US need to be comforted somehow. I mean seriously though...how many peeps in the US even bought into that? I would think the herd has evolved somewhat and is smarter than that now?

I guess not if politicians are making announcements about things like this...lol. I'm beginning to think the movie Idiocracy is really a future projection documentary.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Wonder what's happened since '07? ^?

Credit expansion has exploded.

All commodities have gone exponential.

Our profit line is partly tied to this massive credit expansion. The speed at which the oilfield expands and collapses is crazy. It is a very volatile industry to seek employment. Profits are exploding.

You outta check out this book called the Big Rich. It's a book about the old oilfield families and how they came to be. It's funny, as powerful as everyone thinks the oil companies are they were the laughing stock and still are in some ways from the "old money" bankers from Connecticut a la Prescott D Bush and family. I thought it was a fascinating read.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Markey Report: Big Five Oil Companies Approach $1 Trillion in Profits for the Decade, Yet Still Rely on 100 Year-Old Subsidies to Sell $100 Oil

WASHINGTON (February 3, 2011) – Nearly $1 trillion – that’s the total profit earned by the top five multi-national oil companies over the first decade of the new millennium. $36.5 billion – that’s the total in tax subsidies the American public will provide to the oil industry over the next decade. $53 billion – that’s the value that oil companies could receive from not paying royalties on some Gulf of Mexico production over the next 25 years. And 1916 – the oldest tax subsidy the oil companies still utilize.

 

[Mountain]

There's a part of me that cringes thinking about this whole thing collapsing and another part that's getting the popcorn ready cause I know I got a ring side seat. I may not see the whole show unfold and am hoping I at least make it to intermission.

 

[jrockondamic]

There's a part of me that cringes thinking about this whole thing collapsing and another part that's getting the popcorn ready cause I know I got a ring side seat. I may not see the whole show unfold and am hoping I at least make it to intermission.

I hear you, but it will never be a full-fledged spectacle. It'll never be interesting. Just slightly more impoverished version of the current wage slavery, where 60 hours a week plus commute becomes seventy, more strip malls and bad fast food, etc.


We're far too gone for any kind of notable uprising or anything like that. It'll just be more taco bell and less Cheesecake Factory or whatever it is.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

O announced in Nevada today that the JD will investigate oil speculation. The idea is to shut down excess market manipulation.

What? Your hedge-fund ain't payin' what you expected? You want in on these tankers we've got sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, waiting for social-tension in Bumfuck so we can manipulate the price? We need more seed-money so we can hold more tankers idle while THIS GUT IN SUPPLY THREATENS OUR FAT PAYDAY.

IMO, if you can't take delivery you can't trade oil... period.

 

[jrockondamic]

I don't really know what I'm talking about, so I'll just ask the grown-ups who care enough to do research about the world: drilling at home wouldn't do much at all, correct? My friend who knows these things told me it would drop the price probably 15 cents a gallon, if that, with no long-term impact? True?

 

[Mountain]

I don't really know what I'm talking about, so I'll just ask the grown-ups who care enough to do research about the world: drilling at home wouldn't do much at all, correct? My friend who knows these things told me it would drop the price probably 15 cents a gallon, if that, with no long-term impact? True?

Basically true and I've said that already.

 

[robbiedublu]

O announced in Nevada today that the JD will investigate oil speculation. The idea is to shut down excess market manipulation.

What? Your hedge-fund ain't payin' what you expected? You want in on these tankers we've got sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, waiting for social-tension in Bumfuck so we can manipulate the price? We need more seed-money so we can hold more tankers idle while THIS GUT IN SUPPLY THREATENS OUR FAT PAYDAY.

IMO, if you can't take delivery you can't trade oil... period.

Oil speculation my ass. The problem is free money from the federal reserve chasing return. "Speculation" goes on continuously in all commodity markets. Obama and Holder are tools! Crash JP Morgan. Buy Silver!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I heard a reference today that the Gulf of Mexico represents about 1.5% of global supplies. It was also mentioned that prices didn't spike during the Gulf disaster because of this.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I'm sure everybody here knows the powers of the fed vs congress and president?

Can anyone tell the Fed what to do about interest rates?

Neither the executive or legislative branch can change or veto a Fed decision. But Congress does have oversight of the Fed and can pass legislation to add to or modify its duties.

Let's say the president really, really hates the Fed chairman. Can he fire him?

The president does have the power to remove a member of the Board of Governors, but only for cause. Cause in this case would mean something like the chairman got the keys to the vault and was found stuffing his pockets with bullion.
http://www.slate.com/id/1007348/

Not to mention the fed chairman is appointed for 14 years...

This is all part of making money in a non-manufacturing economy. Two tax cuts, two wars, a medicare entitlement, (all unfunded) - three Wall-Street busts and a recession from hell later, business is sitting on more money than they've ever had.

Business doesn't need loans from the banks because they've done just fine with low capital gains and hedges. Banks only have themselves to lend money to because they're enjoying fast returns.

The Fed virtually has no customers except the banks and if the fed doesn't operate the way it's going it's like pulling the life-support-plug on the economy.

So until we get an economy that generates GDP on more than a prayer, we all better hope some really smart people know how to resuscitate the corpse after they pull it out of the tent. Cause we could go to economic ruin much faster than we're headed at the moment.

 

[robbiedublu]

"Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BP, TOT, Shell, DB and Societe General founded the Intercontinental Exchange in 2000. ICE is an online commodities and futures marketplace. It is outside the US and operates free from the constraints of US laws. The exchange was set up to facilitate ”dark pool” trading in the commodities markets. Billions of dollars are being placed on oil futures contracts at the ICE and the beauty of this scam is that they NEVER take delivery, per se. They just ratchet up the price with leveraged speculation using your TARP money. "

Key points 1) It's done outside of the US so not much Obummer can do about it 2) They use free money from the fed to do it.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Nothings going to change until we start making stuff again. Otherwise there's nothing left but manipulation.