Clinton rolls out energy efficiency plan - 1/3 reduction in energy waste in 10 years

The Hill ^ | February 2, 2016 | Devin Henry

[BobP]

The market is manipulated by derivatives and politics. No one really knows what the value of anything is because the rigged markets have destroyed price discovery.

Derivatives are one mechanism for this. For example: the amount of oil held in paper oil stocks is about 70 to 1 compared to the physical oil being traded. So the price continues to be skewed by the sheer weight of paper moving in the markets. Same with all the other basic commodities.

Now enter politics

Kerry and Abdullah agreed on September 11, 2014 that the Saudis would use their oil muscle to bring Putin’s Russia to their knees today.

So should oil really be at its current price? No one knows. It’s at the price the futures markets and the hollowed-out souls who pass for statesmen in Washington set for it.

We’re in an age of financial and political leverage over national sovereignty and efficient markets.

Manipulative speculators have short positions on oil right now, and are making far more money as the price goes down than they ever did driving the price up.

U.S. rig counts have dropped 53% in the last 12 months, and many more keep producing at a loss, hoping things will get better. The current oil price, less than $40, is $20 below the cost of off-shore oil production in the U.S. and fracking costs.

Will an of this change in 2017?