Oil prices...

[Bodhi]

Your posts are usually so inane, any attempt at sarcasm makes little or no difference.

nice recovery to make yourself feel less stupid for taking that first post of mine seriously...hows that "fox news" circle jerk coming along...

[pilferk]

Too bad we didn't go into Iraq for the oil (as many here thought we had).  If that had happened, maybe all of our gas prices would be lower.   

I'm for government intervention into the oil business.  But health care is totally different.  Goverment healthcare will hurt millions of americans in order to favor millions of americans.  Government intervention into the oil crisis may end up hurting a few gazillionaires to help billions.  That's why one is more socialism and the other isn't.

They're both socialism...just on different scales.  That's rather the point...in BOTH cases you're placing government controls on a system and eliminating (more or less) a free market system.

Thinking one is more justified than the other, because of your percieved scale, doesn't make them, at the core, that much different in principle.

[TAP]

So, let me get this straight, who wants a cap on gas prices? Who wants the government to step in and do this?

I hope the price continues to rise rapidly, forcing the market to look for alternatives

[TAP]

either that or im not as funny as i think I am...no that cant be it....

Yes it can 

[AxlsMainMan]

Stocks advance after two-day plunge; oil off highs

By TIM PARADIS ? 28 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks rebounded modestly Thursday after two sessions of steep declines brought by the surging price of oil.

Oil prices set another trading record overnight ? moving above $135 per barrel for the first time ? but pulled off their highs, offering some relief for investors. And the Labor Department said the number of workers seeking unemployment benefits declined by 9,000 last week to 365,000. The market expected a slight increase.

But the economic fallout from ascendent energy prices remained Wall Street's focus.

The advance in stocks followed a decline in the Dow Jones industrial average that totaled about 427 points, or 3.3 percent, over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday. It was the steepest two-day loss since late February. Stocks have declined in three of the past four sessions.

The spike in oil prices has fanned investors' uneasiness about inflation. One big fear is that consumers worried about rising prices for everything from gasoline to food will be less willing to reach into their wallet for other items. A pullback could deal a major blow to the economy as consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. And rising oil drives up transportation costs and many other expenses for businesses that aren't directly dependent on consumers.

Light, sweet crude rose 34 cents to $133.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, oil topped $135.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow rose 37.78, or 0.29 percent, to 12,638.97.

Broader stock indicators also moved higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.81, or 0.20 percent, to 1,393.52, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 8.34, or 0.33 percent, to 2,456.61.

Still, even with the declines of more than 2 percent in the major indexes this week, stocks are still well off their mid-March lows. The Dow industrials are about 7.4 percent above where they closed on March 10, when investors were preoccupied with worries over the soundness of the credit markets. Since then, Wall Street has reshuffled its list of concerns, placing greater emphasis on the well-being of the overall economy, not just the troubled financial sector.

Bond prices fell Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.88 percent from 3.81 percent late Wednesday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

In corporate news, Ford Motor Co. warned that it no longer expects to return to profitability by next year and that it is trimming North American production of pickups and SUVs for the rest of this year because of high gas prices and a shaky economy. The automaker also lowered its forecasts for U.S. sales for 2008. Ford fell 57 cents, or 7.3 percent, to $7.23.

Power wholesaler NRG Energy Inc. said it offered to acquire rival Calpine Corp. for about $11.3 billion in stock. Calpine, which has dual headquarters in San Jose and Houston, released details of the unsolicited bid Wednesday. NRG fell $1.39, or 3.3 percent, to $41.12, while Calpine jumped $1.56, or 7.3 percent, to $22.84.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 167.4 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.35, or 0.74 percent, to 732.46.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.37 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.35 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 0.51 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.52 percent.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gHs5OM3gFG_DytQQZFbWfgPT08MAD90QO0G00

[SLCPUNK]

nice recovery to make yourself feel less stupid for taking that first post of mine seriously...hows that "fox news" circle jerk coming along...

Trust me, I don't take anything you say seriously.

So, let me get this straight, who wants a cap on gas prices? Who wants the government to step in and do this?

I hope the price continues to rise rapidly, forcing the market to look for alternatives

That is the only way to force change: the pocket book.

[AxlsMainMan]

Oil Prices Break Record at $135 a Barrel

SUPPLY & DEMAND: The price of crude oil reached a new record high this week, topping $135 a barrel. Is this an "oil bubble," or just the sign of more to come?

The U.S. government's weekly gas and oil inventory report said supplies were lower than expected Wednesday. This news inspired energy investors to invest in oil, which drove the price up to its highest yet. Some pundits and analysts justify the price surge with supply and demand data, while others point to the nation's lagging economy and oil investment trends.

by Mike Maxwell
Informify Staff Writer
May 23, 2008

Oil Inventory Report Causes Buying Frenzy

The U.S. Department of Energy releases weekly reports on the nation's oil and gasoline supplies. Wednesday's report, covering the week of May 10-16, showed U.S. oil inventory was down 5.4 million barrels. Analysts had predicted an increase of 300,000 barrels during that timeframe. In addition, stocks of gasoline had dropped 800,000 barrels instead of increasing by the expected 250,000 barrels.

This unexpected news struck an already tense group of investors. The price of oil has:

nearly doubled in the past year
risen 18% in the past month

The unexpected shortfall drove the price of a barrel of New York sweet light crude over $135. Since that peak a few days ago, oil prices have dropped several dollars.


What's Driving High Oil Prices?

Two factors caused the higher oil prices:

concerns about supply and demand
investors joining a trend to make a profit

Supply and Demand

Our awareness of the world's dependence on petroleum fuels increases in light of the following:

instability in oil-producing regions of the world, such as the Middle East, Africa and South America
quickly expanding economies of India and China, where more and more people are able to afford cars
national security concerns about relying on a resource controlled by foreign governments or companies
data showing that our reliable oil sources are producing less oil, and that new sources of oil may be difficult to exploit
a growing social movement away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro-electric power
scientific data linking the use of fossil fuels with global climate change
higher gasoline prices

Old-Fashioned Capitalism

Like any other investors, people who invest in oil look for ways to increase the value of what they have. Observant investors watched the price of oil increase rapidly over the last year. These investors believe the price of oil will continue to go up for awhile. When they think the prices have reached their peak, they will sell their investments for a profit.

So far this year, investments in oil have outperformed investments in stocks and bonds.


Oil Bubble?

Do recent record oil prices reflect actual supply and demand trends in the U.S. economy? Opinions vary.

Tight Market Psychology: The same day the price of oil hit its record high, oil executives appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to these executives, the price for a barrel of oil should range between $35 and $90 even after factoring in the cost of oil production and supply and demand.

Victor Shum is an analyst for Purvin and Gertz, an energy consulting firm in Singapore. He believes the oil prices are artificial. "The psychology is that the oil market is tight," he said. "Even though there is no shortage, global oil demand continues to grow and supply growth is restrained." (Yahoo!/AFP, 5/22/08)

Demand Exceeds Supply: Demand continues to grow rapidly in China and India, where business is booming. Jeff Rubin, an economist and strategist for CIBC World Markets, said, "The story of the past month has been the sudden surge demand in China for diesel fuel... Even at $133, demand hasn't been reined in, and without a real raise in supply we think it's ultimately going to go over $200 a barrel." (Forbes, 5/21/05)

Future Supply Limited: There is also evidence to support the theory that our oil supply will not last forever. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is expected to decrease its estimate for oil production in the year 2030. Bill Ramsey, deputy executive director for the IEA said, "We are trying to get a better understanding of depletion rates and expectations of productivity. There is growing awareness that raising world output is a problem." (Bloomberg, 5/21/08)

http://www.informify.com/top-stories/50-economy/155-oil-prices-break-record-at-135-a-barrel

[SLCPUNK]

Hey where did the commie senator go? Is he writing a letter to Bush asking him to freeze gas prices?

[Perfect Criminal]

Hey where did the commie senator go? Is he writing a letter to Bush asking him to freeze gas prices?

You may disagree with his politics...but commie senator?  Really?

[SLCPUNK]

Hey where did the commie senator go? Is he writing a letter to Bush asking him to freeze gas prices?

but commie senator?  Really?

100 percent, yes.

[Perfect Criminal]

Hey where did the commie senator go? Is he writing a letter to Bush asking him to freeze gas prices?

but commie senator?  Really?

100 percent, yes.

Kind of shows you how extreme you are, doesn't it.  You think McCain is a commie?  Most people consider him an American hero. 

[SLCPUNK]

I'm not calling McCain a commie, I'm calling Senator one.

He wants government to control gas prices, does he not?

How would you define that? Free market?

Kind of shows you how extreme you are, doesn't it. 

Actually it shows what a poor reader you are.

[Perfect Criminal]

I'm not calling McCain a commie, I'm calling Senator one.

??

[SLCPUNK]

Senator asks for government caps on gas

Not Senator McCain.

[Perfect Criminal]

Ah.  My bad.  I thought you meant McCain. 

I don't know Senator, but I bet he isn't a commie.

[SLCPUNK]

Is government control over pricing a free market ideal?

[Perfect Criminal]

Is government control over pricing a free market ideal?

Nope.  But I'm for it, and I'd venture to bet you're for it.  I doubt either of us are commies.

[SLCPUNK]

Nope.  But I'm for it, and I'd venture to bet you're for it.

You'd be wrong again.

What do you call somebody who advocates communist principles?

[Perfect Criminal]

Nope.  But I'm for it, and I'd venture to bet you're for it.

You'd be wrong again.

What do you call somebody who advocates communist principles?

So your for government control over princing in healthcare, but for the same with oil prices?  Why?

[SLCPUNK]

I'm not for government control over health care pricing.

How would you describe somebody who advocates communist principles then? How would you describe them?