Oh Great - Now Oil to be $200/bbl!!!

[hammersley]

When will you "free traders" realize that this has to stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-{}



Goldman Sachs raises possibility of $200 a barrel oil - MarketWatch



and if you want to see how Big Oil is screwing with you - read here... .....



SANTA MONICA, Calif. , Sept. 7 /U. S. Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) today exposed internal oil company memos that show how the industry intentionally reduced domestic refining capacity to drive up profits. The exposure comes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as the oil industry blames environmental regulation for limiting number of U. S. refineries.



Oil Companies Limited Refining Capacity to Drive Up Gas Prices

 

[EBung]

Its pretty sad all the BS we get handed by a bunch worthless desk jockies! All hype BS about oil shortage is a HUGE LIE!

 

[Thunderbolt]

I personally don't know who to believe anymore. Who's LIE is the TRUTH today? I live within 50 miles of several major refineries and tank farms. Hurricane Kat never even raised the windspeed here. Still prices rocket up. Some Sheik sneezes in Abu F U, oils rockets up.

The big oil companies are raking in record profits regardless of crude prices because they continue to pass-on the cost to the little guys. It's the dirty end of the free market economy stick!

I HOPE the mideast oil dries up! I'd like to see the Shah of Allah Dallah choking on the sand under his magic carpet.

FU OPEC.

Keep eating french fries...

We're depending on you to become energy independent!

 

[Dieselnut59]

Interesting how all these "studies" about "big oil" never mention how much the GOVERNMENT gets off each gallon of fuel. Remember, there is a federal fuel tax, then state fuel tax and then sales tax included in each gallon of fuel. I am not sure how much each tax is, but here in Georgia, sales tax is 7 cents on the dollar, therefore fuel at one dollar a gallon has 7 cents sales tax, fuel at 4 dollars a gallon has 28 cents a gallon sales tax. This is all on a product they have no part of providing to us. Is there really any incentive for the government to want fuel prices lower?

 

[SNiebaum]

Interesting how all these "studies" about "big oil" never mention how much the GOVERNMENT gets off each gallon of fuel.

ask and you shall receive... .



Diesel Fuel Taxes



Gas Taxes

 

[klenger]

I do believe that most states charge sales tax on fuel as a % of the total. It's a road tax, which is a flat $0. xx / gallon.

 

[Dieselnut59]

I do believe that most states charge sales tax on fuel as a % of the total. It's a road tax, which is a flat $0. xx / gallon.

That is correct. Sales tax is added at the retailer, at least in Georgia. Therefore, 1 dollar fuel has 7 cents sales tax and 4 dollar fuel has 28 cents sales tax. No incentive for the government to want to allow drilling, refineries or anything that will lower the tax on a product they make so much money on, yet have no part in providing.

 

[jray]

I hate to say it boys, but I think somehow we're paying for a war through inflated fuel costs. I might be wrong on this, but I know that during WWII the government imposed special taxes to fund the war.

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

if you wanna look at the real cause of high oil prices, blame the tree hugging environmental wackos, lets face it, if you had some money to invest what would be a good investment, well you know we are not suddenly going to have alot more oil thanks to the tree huggers, can't drill in ANWR, can't drill the gulf, even though cuba can, can't drill of the coast of california, we got more oil than you can believe in the ground we just can't get it, mccain says he has swallowed all the global warming coolaid and will sign all the environmental crap you want, hilliary and barack , well they will do the same, so back to orginal statement lets say you have money and want to invest, well if you ask me oil and oil companies sound to me like the wisest investments, couple that with the falling dollar, and you have a recipe for massive speculating and overvaluing of the market because its all fueled by investors looking to make a buck,

 

[Brock]

our reserves are at a 15 year high..... there is not a shortage... this is being driven by Speculators on the Markets... . because the dollar is dropping and the huge hit our economy took because of the subprime mortgage fiasco where people that could not afford the big houses got them anyhow and then when they converted the loans they were foreclosed... . that is what has us in this fix now.



I remember them jamming up the prices before this past Hurricane Season in case it was like year prior with Katrina... . as they touted it would be the worse in history. Did not have a one..... Did they lower the prices and refund the extra money they made... NOPE. They never do... . they just use it to reset the baseline until the next scare... .



If I got to pay 3. 79 for diesel... . then the oil companies ought to be willing to take less of a profit and cut it from 13 billion to a measley 10 billion... dont you thing? ****ing rat *******s!

 

[Ncostello]

It its all a big LIE... then when are the exec's going to start marching off to the Federal Prison Camps??? Didn't Enron Kenneth Lay lie... didn't Martha Stewart Lie? Didn't they have to spend time behind bars?



If everyone knows its a lie... then why aren't people being prosecuted for driving up market prices or manipulating market prices?

 

[TFucili]

Here is an excerpt from an article I ran across:

"The commodity markets are the price discovery points for all energy commodities. Excessive speculation and questionable trading practices have an instant and tremendous impact on the consumer," said Craig Eerkes, chairman of the Petroleum Marketers Association, in July 12 testimony about commodities markets before the House Agriculture Committee. "American families and small businesses are at the financial whim of the energy trader and the hedge fund manager. It is time that Congress stepped in and said, `Enough is enough. '"



Eerkes was referring to electronic trading of oil contracts on what are called Exempt Commercial Markets, or ECMs. These over-the-counter, unregulated exchanges were codified in law in 2000, thanks to intense lobbying by now-bankrupt energy giant Enron during a modernization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal entity that regulates futures markets.



ECMs affect oil prices this way: Foreigners and lightly regulated hedge funds (investment pools for the ultra-wealthy) buy large oil positions on an ECM. Since these exchanges compete against the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange for investors, they affect demand for oil futures. This distorts the "price discovery" function that futures markets are supposed to provide in allowing users of oil to hedge against price changes.



Because ECMs are largely unregulated, it's difficult to tell whether, or to what degree, oil companies and wealthy oil-producing nations are driving up the price of oil by washing their profits back through futures markets to serve their own interests.



Some estimates are that 30 percent of oil futures contracts are traded on unregulated exchanges.