Nice layout of the idiots in Washington grasping for excuses. Excuses for them having not done what we sent them up there to do or for having promised crap and we believed it!. – WD0AJG
from Gregor.us by Gregor Macdonald
Persistent strength in the price of oil has once again unleashed maximum nonsense about the influence of speculators. Yes, it’s painful that oil never returned to earth after its 2004 repricing. But, in the search for an explanation, substituting the arcane for the obvious will not help: speculators did not create 5-6 years of flat to falling global oil production. Furthermore, as oil made its way from below $25.00 to its new level at $100.00, more of the world’s cheap oil from old reservoirs was swapped out for the new. Given that this new oil is much harder to extract, the world economy is lucky that oil remains so cheap. $100 is a bargain.
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It is depressing that the US government, and the Obama Administration which has done nothing to downshift our dependency on the Auto-Highway complex, has also joined the speculation over speculation. Consumption growth rates among the 5 billion people in the developing world have been soaring for a decade. Global costs to extract new oil have doubled, and tripled. Watching the President serve up the tired narrative that speculators have driven the price of oil should dissuade optimists from thinking the US public is ready to face up to reality.
–Gregor
Read the whole article and his justification at:
Speculator Ghosts in the Oil Machine