Jun 11 2008

BREAKING: Oil Addicted Economy Is In The Breakdown Lane

(8:15PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

This is an extremely brief sequel to this gasoline essay.

Here you go:

Oil prices veered wildly on Wednesday, as they swung back from a spike higher on a sharp fall in crude oil stocks shown in weekly data. Crude oil in New York trading jumped $6.79, to $138.10 a barrel immediately after the release of the inventory data. It retreated to $134.66 but was trading up $4.25, to $135.56 at midday.

The government’s Energy Information Administration showed that American crude oil stocks fell 4.6 million barrels to 302 million barrels last week, four times the drop that analysts’ expected.

The price fluctuations came as the Energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman III, representing the world’s top energy user [that would be the US], said on Wednesday that he would attend a meeting later this month in Saudi Arabia where global energy producers and consumers will grapple with record-high oil prices.

As oil prices have surged 40 percent since January, Washington has differed with Saudi Arabia – the world’s top exporter – on the reason behind the price increase.

Did you get that?  Again:

where global energy producers and consumers will grapple with record-high oil prices

Producers and consumers will “grapple” in Saudi Arabia.  This will be bigger than the Thriller in Manilla.  Not.  This “grapple” is being promoted by the alleged “free market,” supply side, tax cutting Ayn Rand fans in DC.  I wouldn’t expect a caged, no rules, death match.  I’d expect more kissy face and tea with “our Saudi friends.”  And, of course, no short term solution, and no longer term energy policy changes.  Crickets.

Folks, everything is breaking down. Since we don’t have a short term solution for gas prices, I have nothing new to offer, except maybe hiding your wallet.

10 comments

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  1. Thanks for reading.

  2. Or a bicycle.

  3. at dKos that I think is germane to this (and since it’s quickly sliding down the “Recent Diaries” I wanted to link it here):

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

    Hope I’m not overstepping here…just thought it deserved a wider readership than it seems to be getting.

  4. when they think the game is up, WHAM they will lower prices just in time for McCain to say it is a nonissue. ANd for alternative energy to get whacked so it can’t compete economically at $45 a barrel. Lots of things that make money when oil is $95 a barrel go under water when oil is $45… this market is manipulated from huge hedge funds, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

  5. When the “sub-prime” crisis occurred (because of Bush’s re-enactment of an 1876 law (sorry too tired to look it up) — wherein the state laws regarding mortgages were, essentially, sold out!  That law took away any recourse of the states to act on their own, and, at the same time, deprived homeowners any recourse — in the circumstance!  Thus, ultimately, the “sub-prime” crises occurred.  Bush assured it’s outcome.

    Then, he collected a “package of mortgages” (American homes) in an attempt to sell them off for “debt repayment” — but they were valued at a market value far higher than reality — thus, the value of the dollar fell!  The so-called recipients of repayment of our debt saw the erroneous value of those “unpaid mortgages” and thus, lost faith in the American dollar and, hence, it became debased in value.

    When Bush visited King Abdullah, in January of 2008, he sought an “infusion” of monies into the Treasury, Merrill-Lynch and Citicorp (owned by the nephew of King Abdullah).  As he sought this “infusion,” Bush, more or leas “assured” King Abdullah that he could charge whatever amount for oil he chose, as recompense.  Thus, the American people were, once again, sold out, at the hand of Bush!    

    • Edger on June 13, 2008 at 11:57
    • #

    • Edger on June 13, 2008 at 12:55
    • #

    He is also the richest of all Bush appointees.

    Don’t let him near your children.

    Last year, a devastating report by the world’s leading climate scientists warned  that global warming is no longer a threat, but is a manmade disaster that has  already impacted the environment.

    The report confirmed that man-made  emissions of greenhouse gases were to blame for severe heat waves, floods and an  increase in more-intense hurricanes and tropical storms. Climatologists predict  the temperature will rise by two to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and sea levels are  expected to increase by seven to 23 inches by the year 2100.

    Yet, hours  after the report was released, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the Bush  administration would continue to oppose mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases  in the form of CO2 caps. Mandatory caps could financially ruin some of the  energy companies responsible for polluting the air, he said.

    [snip]

    Bodman is a Bush appointee who for a dozen years ran a Texas-based chemical company that spent years on the top five lists of the country’s worst polluters.

    It’s not just a few clouds of smoke emanating from an oil refinery or a power plant that got Bodman’s old company, Boston-based Cabot Corporation, those accolades. It was the 54,000 tons of toxic emissions that his company’s refineries released into the air in the Lone Star state in 1997 alone that made Cabot the fourth-largest source of toxic emissions in Texas. Cabot is the world’s largest producer of industrial carbon black, a byproduct of the oil refinery process.

    Bodman personally contributed $1,000 to Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign and $20,000 to Republican committees in the 1999-2000 election. Bodman is the wealthiest member of the Bush administration. His net worth is estimated to be between $42 million and $164 million, the bulk of it in Cabot stock, deferred compensation and other benefits.

    —US Energy Secretary Profits From Global Warming

  8. is the ONE country I can totally justify a war against.

    You f*ck with American politics, you deserve to PAY PAY PAY.

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