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2008-10-11 Home Front Economy

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Posted by Steve White 2008-10-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ] Top

#1 ...Still occasional shortages here in Columbia, SC, but as of last night it's down to $3.26 - actually lower than it was before Hurricane Ike.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-10-11 05:09|| 2008-10-11 05:09|| Front Page Top

#2 "If you can't borrow money to buy crude, then demand falls more and so do prices."

It's not just demand, the 'credit' market has gone south stopping the speculators from floating paper to jack up the commodity. Now to really hammer it home, the regulators need to follow through and make sure those who bid oil 'futures' above $100 pay and are not permitted to exercise an escape clause. Those unable to pay need to be barred for life from commodities trading.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-10-11 07:56|| 2008-10-11 07:56|| Front Page Top

#3 Crude can't be allowed to crash! Why, it might actually benefit Joe Schmoe, and the crazies of the world won't be able to blow up as much crap as before! Quagmire!!!

Posted by Cornsilk Blondie 2008-10-11 10:06|| 2008-10-11 10:06|| Front Page Top

#4 As I just pointed out in another thread, oil is back to where it was sometime in 2007. I can't find a detailed chart.

Lots of people were making lots of money, both domestically and internationally in 2006 with prices lower than they are now.

Posted by Tranquil Mechanical Yeti 2008-10-11 10:48|| 2008-10-11 10:48|| Front Page Top

#5 Oil prices need to stabilise between 65 and 90 to maintain infrastructure of the bio fuels and unconventional oils. If we don't we will see wildly flunctuating prices that ultimately will hurt the consumers and the worlds economies.

Posted by darrylq 2008-10-11 11:37|| 2008-10-11 11:37|| Front Page Top

#6 Here is a graph, inflation adjusted, for crude oil prices for 60 years or so.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2008-10-11 14:21|| 2008-10-11 14:21|| Front Page Top

#7 As a child my family took a trip from KC to the Ozarks in 1961. I recollect an oil price in hillbilly land (not a slam by the way) at 17.9 cents per gallon. Never seen it lower in my lifetime. For 2 bucks you could "fill 'er up". My point, nostagia aside, is that the oil companies were raking in millions even back then. Today "supply and demand" is not at work - cartels adjust supply as they wish. No better or worse than the folks in Sinaloa or Colombia.

Posted by borgboy 2008-10-11 14:27|| 2008-10-11 14:27|| Front Page Top

#8 Crude on the world market is priced in dollars. With the dollar at a 16 month high, crude prices (in dollars) had to fall, even independent of supply/demand changes.

Posted by Minister of funny walks 2008-10-11 16:16|| 2008-10-11 16:16|| Front Page Top

#9 Procopius2k nailed it above. I hope our feckless government takes the appropriate action.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-10-11 16:23|| 2008-10-11 16:23|| Front Page Top

#10 For every futures contract, there is probably a CDS (Credit Default Swap) contract to cover the margin. Perhaps several.

Watch what happens at the end of this month.

How much of the current credit crunch is tied to CDSs positions, nobody knows.

Posted by Skunky Glins 5***">Skunky Glins 5*** 2008-10-11 22:12|| 2008-10-11 22:12|| Front Page Top

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