Is it over yet? Oil prices drop like a rock
There's been a lot of head-scratching about the exact cause of the meteoric rise in price for a barrel of oil. Are speculators driving it to turn a quick buck? Is it the weakening value of the U.S. dollar? How about increaded worldwide demand? Chances are, all those forces are playing a part in the rise of fuel prices, and no single solution is likely to fix the problem.
Just as it was starting to look like prices would rise on a daily basis for the rest of eternity, the price of a barrel of oil dropped by $16 from Tuesday to Thursday. Economists point to the dismal economic and inflation news as a main factor for the drop. All we know is that ever since gas got more expensive, everything else started to follow suit. That leads us to spend less on things that we don't absolutely need, which probably isn't good for the economy.
With news of the large drop in the price of a barrel of crude, Wall Street got all excited and responded with a couple days of very positive gains in the stock market. Good news, right? Well, oil jumped by over $2 on Friday morning alone, so we'll have to see. Is the $4 per gallon nightmare almost over? Probably not, but we can hope.
[Source: Yahoo, Photo: Getty/Justin Sullivan]
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
bruno 9:17PM (7/19/2008)
The term is "dead cat bounce" for the market rise.
Markets adjust. Rapid rises and falls will happen. But the bull market for oil and almost all commodities is a secular one. I wouldn't toss too many "happy days are here again" parties with my money unless I wanted to have a lot less of it in 1-2 years.
Wishful thinking is going to make a lot of investors poor. But what's worse is that people with no money to invest are the ones who will really hurt.
Investors with sense can easily hedge against rising oil prices by investing in it.
If you're wrong, the economy prospers and you keep your job and you'll take a small loss and life goes on. But if you're right that money you made in gold/oil/commodities may help you survive tough times.
But if you bet on oil falling, the stock market recovering, and it doesn't pan out, you may have a smaller 401k as well as no job.
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richbum 2:38AM (7/20/2008)
and not 10 year old corollas either. They are 2005-2007 high end luxury vehicles.
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Luscious 2:38AM (7/20/2008)
John Cressey,
We did not land on the moon due to the Van Allen Radiation Belts.
The men inside a capsule flying through those radiation belts would be cooked. Stop lying about the moon nonsense, ok?
Tercom is one thing, a lead-shielded capsule reaching orbit is quite another story.
Here, you can see first-hand how they staged the "distant" planet earth:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=a+funny+thing+happened+on+the+way+to+the+moon&hl=en&sitesearch=#
Enjoy your lie.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=a+funny+thing+happened+on+the+way+to+the+moon&hl=en&sitesearch=#q=van%20allen%20&hl=en&sitesearch=
And to those who believe terrorists are to blame for the war and thus the rise in oil prices, think again too:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=a+funny+thing+happened+on+the+way+to+the+moon&hl=en&sitesearch=#q=loose%20change%20final%20cut&hl=en&sitesearch=
Again, enjoy your lies, people.
The price of oil is so high because THEY CAN RAPE YOU and you can do nothing in turn.
Steve, I commend you for speaking your mind...and the truth. :)
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Luscious 2:42AM (7/20/2008)
And regarding the "not funding space" nonsense, since when has FUNDING ever stopped anything?
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Who is the troll? You future has already been sold out...quite some time ago. $1.74 billion per day!!!
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Luscious 3:10AM (7/20/2008)
Why, we just HAVEN'T FUNDED IT!!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwU
A funny thing not only happened on the way to the moon, but to 9/10 - 9/11 too!
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=a+funny+thing+happened+on+the+way+to+the+moon&hl=en&sitesearch=#q=Loose%20Change%20final%20cut&hl=en&sitesearch=
People, PLEASE stop being dolts and push-overs, mmmmkay??? Wake up.
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paigerowntree 10:12AM (7/20/2008)
Alright so the comments have been all over the place but it doesn't look like anyone mentioned a large factor in oil price.
The price of any good or service is often a reflection of the risk associated with it.
Oil and fish are good examples. However if you pass the risk completely on to the end consumer and price you aren't doing business. As a result the risk is split between suppliers and customers.
In the case of current oil costs the risk grew and the price grew. The supplier continued to pass along as much risk to the price as they could (safe business) until they started to reach a tipping point. If the cost goes too high the entire market collapses. Consumers start to pack their respective bags and leave. Strong business practices know that you can't get anywhere without taking risks. A result is then that the suppliers will reduce the share of risk passed onto the consumer to avoid completely losing the ability to sell their product at the current levels.
Speculative is another word for gambling which is the act of taking risks. Risks in business come in many forms. Some risks to give you an example are:
ratio between price of supply and price at purchase
ability to keep supply
Consumer habits (meeting demand)
Natural and political issues
regulations and taxes
supply chain reliability
Since you can't play "Oil Tycoon" I will have to break a little of that down.
As a producer or well whatever the oil people actually do... they need to ensure that they can maintain a prophet that continuously increases. If not shareholders step in and demand peoples heads. When capitalism is referred to as cut-throat it really is, no ones job is safe.
Keeping supply is important because oil is remote and spread widely across the globe. To remain competitive you need to produce as much as your rival for as long as your rival. If some one gets ahead you are dead in the water.
this is a large factor in the price of anything however you see it most in oil. Petroleum is so cheap and as a result there really is no price cushion. In the end we see a lot more active view of economics on a daily bases when we stand at the pumps because we are lucky. We are lucky that we as consumers have gotten a product for so little that pennies of change is enough to make the largest companies in the world panic.
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AMGoff 3:01PM (7/20/2008)
First off... to Steve @ Jul 19 2008 3:46PM & 4:35PM:
"I don't believe anything nor am I a conspiracy nut. All I believe in is that the technology was not there. Thats all..."
You don't believe in anything, but you believe that the United States government propagated a conspiracy to fool people into believing that we landed on the moon?
You're not a "conspiracy nut," yet you theorize and firmly believe (despite the fact that you don't believe in anything...) that the moon landings were a conspiracy?
The technology wasn't there? What technology? The technology *you* think was needed to accomplish such a mission in the form of electronic/computer gadgetry? About the only electronics needed for the spacecraft were mainly for instrumentation, readouts, and the like. As others have already mentioned.... computer science was not necessary to get men to the moon as what it really needed was rocket science, mathematics, physics, smart men with pencils and paper, and highly skilled and experienced pilots.
Hopefully you've saved some money buy not driving as much due to high gas prices and can go out and buy a dictionary... Once you do, please look up the words "conspiracy + theorist," then the word "contradictory," then the word "denial." They may provide you with some fascinating insights with regard to yourself.
And to Luscious @ Jul 20 2008 in the wee hours of the morning:
I thought Steve was a little nutty... but you're a grade-A, certifiable wack-job... and the worst kind too - the kind who thinks they're so enlightened that the ignorant masses could never possibly understand them. You're far from enlightened - there's a not so fine line between enlightenment and mental illness... the "clarity" brought forth from paranoid schizophrenia only exists within your head.
My favorite part of your argument is that the "proof" you have are videos made by some conspiracy theorist nut-job (albeit an entrepreneurial nut-job) who's only purpose is to make money selling such drivel to other nutters with some disposable cash.
While I generally feel that the internet is an invaluable resource, the likes of which the world has never seen... Some people should simply not be allowed on it for their own safety.
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AMGoff 3:01PM (7/20/2008)
First off... to Steve @ Jul 19 2008 3:46PM & 4:35PM:
"I don't believe anything nor am I a conspiracy nut. All I believe in is that the technology was not there. Thats all..."
You don't believe in anything, but you believe that the United States government propagated a conspiracy to fool people into believing that we landed on the moon?
You're not a "conspiracy nut," yet you theorize and firmly believe (despite the fact that you don't believe in anything...) that the moon landings were a conspiracy?
The technology wasn't there? What technology? The technology *you* think was needed to accomplish such a mission in the form of electronic/computer gadgetry? About the only electronics needed for the spacecraft were mainly for instrumentation, readouts, and the like. As others have already mentioned.... computer science was not necessary to get men to the moon as what it really needed was rocket science, mathematics, physics, smart men with pencils and paper, and highly skilled and experienced pilots.
Hopefully you've saved some money buy not driving as much due to high gas prices and can go out and buy a dictionary... Once you do, please look up the words "conspiracy + theorist," then the word "contradictory," then the word "denial." They may provide you with some fascinating insights with regard to yourself.
And to Luscious @ Jul 20 2008 in the wee hours of the morning:
I thought Steve was a little nutty... but you're a grade-A, certifiable wack-job... and the worst kind too - the kind who thinks they're so enlightened that the ignorant masses could never possibly understand them. You're far from enlightened - there's a not so fine line between enlightenment and mental illness... the "clarity" brought forth from paranoid schizophrenia only exists within your head.
My favorite part of your argument is that the "proof" you have are videos made by some conspiracy theorist nut-job (albeit an entrepreneurial nut-job) who's only purpose is to make money selling such drivel to other nutters with some disposable cash.
While I generally feel that the internet is an invaluable resource, the likes of which the world has never seen... Some people should simply not be allowed on it for their own safety.
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AMGoff 3:24PM (7/20/2008)
Sorry bout the double post....
Anyway... back to the topic at hand. While "armchair economists" may have all the theories in the world as to why oil prices are the way they are... most of them are moot.
The problem isn't the price of oil, nor where it comes from - it's oil, period. While I'm generally all for free markets and minimal government interference... this is one area where I believe that the government should get involved and in a big way.
If the government spent just a fraction of what we're wasting on other "projects" at both home and abroad, we could fix this problem in no time at all. But then again, that would require actually electing officials who actually care about changing things instead of continuing to elect those who are perfectly happy with the status quo.
The current crop of borderline-traitors currently in Washington, DC couldn't care less about what's happening in this country as their interests lie not with the best interests of the American population, but elsewhere.
We should be subsidizing the hell out of alternative energies, the infrastructure required to bring them online, and the products to utilize them. Some may feel that it's not the government's place to do such things... but the government literally wastes huge amounts of resources on an untold number of things they have no place doing.
This is a matter of national security greater than any this nation has ever faced and things need to be done about it without haste. But the majority of those in power are either totally out of touch with this issue, or they have no desire to do anything about it as it would threaten the "establishment."
What's even worse is that the American public has essentially forgotten that this is our government, that its power to govern is extended to them by us, and that it's purpose is to reflect the will of the people. The people of this country need to wake up and start demanding changes now before this grand experiment we call America falls into total and irreversible decline.
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Luscious 11:57PM (7/20/2008)
I highly recommend The Underground History of American Education...it is a comprehensive detailed look at how our educational system (public schooling) actually goes out of their way to snuff the natural insight and inquisitive mindset people are BORN with.
http://johntaylorgatto.com/
One theme of our "system" is to take someone with real insight and a real Desire to study and understand things- and to turn them into unquestioning idiots. I can see it has worked well. Steve, don't let society tell you you are crazy...follow your own guidance.
Yes, when actual video footage showing Neil Armstrong lying- stating he was 130,000 miles out...and instead was in low-earth orbit...YES, when you are presented with Actual footage...You TOO will be called an idiot. When you question how a government which spent billions of dollars on a "moon program" cannot to this day reproduce any engineering documents (in particular that of the Lunar Module), and that this knowledge has been "lost"...you too will be called an idiot for questioning this. You will be ridiculed when you question how ...to this day...any astronaut which has even come "near" the Van Allen radiation belts sees shooting stars inside his skull from radiation bombardment....how anyone can survive this ...not once but twice (round trip) unscathed...you will be called an idiot.
To snuff any innate intelligence...and to shun someone because he asks questions which do not fit the "official story" is to deny your very own intelligence. Please don't deny yourself...you hopefully have not had all of your innate brilliance...that which you are born with...stupefied by your socialization.
The national myth of Neil Armstrong is right up there with Little Red Riding Hood.
...along with the myth of "supply and demand" in the oil industry. But you will be told supply is "tightening", and you will never hear a single word of how your very own dollar's value is being destroyed by the Federal Reserve. You will continue to believe the Private, for-profit, International Bankers who go by the name "Federal Reserve"- who are in charge of your very economic life- have absolutely nothing to do with anything...and that they work for "your best interests".
Your economic theory and justification is so far removed from reality it could only have come from your public schooling.
I see you earned a gold star. Nicely done.
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Luscious 12:15AM (7/21/2008)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7a7_1182794121
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9e1_1182793887
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Luscious 12:21AM (7/21/2008)
Where is the All American Bravado???? The KICK -ASS *THRILL* of having been the *FIRST FREAKIN' MAN ON THE MOON???*
I've seen more excitement at a funeral!!!
Give me a break. Better yet, give me a beer, as anyone who swallows the official story presented to you by your educational system, and/or your government, needs something to wash it down with ...and inebriate yourself in the process.
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Tom 5:39PM (8/20/2008)
The higher the price of fuel, The less people drive, equels drop in buying fuel.
These greedy sob's ain't happy having to lower the price of fuel.
Hopefully this is the turning point, were other means will be used to fuel vehicles, etc
Let these greedy bastards in the middle east, etc, drown in the overflow of having to much oil they cannot sell.
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