THAT OLD BLACK PRINT MAGIC or did Forbes go 'all in' on this?
Baby down and down I go,
All around I go
In a spin, loving the spin that I’m in
Under that old black magic called love spin?.
Posted on 09/05/2005 7:39:23 AM PDT by cloud8
PUBLISHING billionaire Steve Forbes has predicted that soaring oil prices will lead to a crash that could make the hi-tech bust of 2000 "look like a picnic".
Mr Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, said the price of oil, which peaked at more than $US70 a barrel on Monday as Hurricane Katrina headed for the US Gulf Coast, was unsustainable.
He said factors such as inflation and increased demand for oil from China and India accounted for only a small part of the price hike from $US25-30 a barrel three years ago.
"The rest of it is sheer bubble speculation," he said.
Mr Forbes, who was speaking at the opening of the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney yesterday, said the higher the oil price rose, the harder it would eventually crash, creating more pain for hedge fund managers and their clients.
"I don't think it's going to go to $US100 but if it does the crash is going to be even more spectacular," he said.
"It will make the hi-tech bubble look like a picnic -- this thing is not going to last."
He predicted that oil would fall to $US30-35 a barrel within a year.
Mr Forbes's comments came as the price of oil eased following US Government comments that it could release some of its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The 700 million barrel stockpile is set aside for emergency use and could be used to counter oil shortages caused by Katrina's impact on the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for about a quarter of US output.
After leaping nearly $US5 a barrel to $US70.70 on Monday, US oil futures retreated more than $US1 a barrel yesterday.
Not sure those apply. I'm not particularly jealous of the thieves who run the oil companies. I've got all I need, so I don't feel compelled to amass more at any cost. And I might be self-deluded, but I like to think I exhibit some morality in my business dealings.
On the other hand, continued price gouging like we've seen in the last couple of weeks is going to inevitably result in the government sticking its nose in. It's already happened in Hawaii, and there are rumblings of price caps in California. If California goes, expect others to follow. That's the consequence of unbridled greed.
Tyrants to the left of me, looters to the right ... Extremes giving rise to their opposite ...
Offshore rig utilization rates
How we got here? while everyone was thrilled at cheap gas,...
It's on its way. Join the Dropping-of-the-Month Club and get a different variety sent in a colorful baggie each month.
12:19 New Orleans police: Citizens not being allowed back in city
12:14 New Orleans police: Thousands of people remain in city
12:15 New Orleans police: 400 police officers unaccounted for
12:11 New Orleans Police: Now switching to law enforcement mode
12:11 New Orleans police now targeting looters
What the he!! is going on down there NOW??? Do we have deserters on the poleice farce???
So, what level of profit would you let them have? What is not "obscene"?
And where is their profit coming from? I see the price per barrel increasing and the wholesale cost being bid up, so I'm assuming their costs are increasing just as fast.
In case you missed...
http://stockcharts.com/gallery/?VLO
(Dripping Sarcasm) Why yes, Mr. Nailer, the pristine plantings of one Johnny Appleseed are finally baring fruit so's the citizens of the United States can prosper without relying upon wretched gains based on filthy lucre, don'tcha know??? (snort!)(/sourchasm)
You make sure the wells and related infrastructure are shut down to keep from adding a major pollution event to the problem.
You go back out after the storm, repair what got broken (because in a cat 5 hurricane, something is going to get broken--period) and you bring things on line as fast as repairs and the rest of the infrastructure will allow you to do safely.
What more plan would you have?
I cannot think of a more adaptable private industry.
Don'tchew know them big Drug & Oil cumpennys jus pocket dem bichin profits an hord 'em up till dere CEO's die so's dere trussfund babies can lord it over all the werkin poor pipples of da urth? Oh! An besides, it's awl Bush's fault!!!
Do a search on Shell. There is a thread where they have found a way to make it feasable at $30 per barrel. And at that price there were comments that there is the equivalent of 1.7 TRILLION barrels in the Colorado Green river valley alone.
Buying up futures with a limited supply drives up the price per barrel.
That's true but I'm not buying futures. Another thing, I'll be damned if I am going to defend the fact that I did my homework economy wise and now am making some very nice money from it. If someone doesn't like somebody profiting from the rise in oil prices they're in the wrong country.
Boy, that sounds like good news!!
THAT OLD BLACK PRINT MAGIC or did Forbes go 'all in' on this?
Baby down and down I go,
All around I go
In a spin, loving the spin that I’m in
Under that old black magic called love spin?.
Recently an article detailed a Shell project that is feasible at less than $30 a barrel, and totally effective.
THAT OLD BLACK PRINT MAGIC or did Forbes go 'all in' on this?
Baby down and down I go,
All around I go
In a spin, loving the spin that I’m in
Under that old black magic called love spin?.
Oil is considered an inelastic commodity. That is, there isn't a 1:1 relationship between its price and its demand. As we've seen, the price has gone up rapidly, but the demand still seems to be there. However that inelasticity also works in the other direction -- small changes in demand produce large changes in price.
So, it is oil's very inelasticity that I believe will cause its price to plummet from even a small drop in its fear-driven demand.
I think the Chinese have been busy playing with the price of oil, in partnership with some Middle-eastern interests, in order to mess with the US economy
IF we are to achieve energy independance we have to find and bring on line resources faster than they are consumed and depleted. We have been losing ground while gasoline has been cheap (since the early '80s), and since I started in this industry (1979), have gone from producing over half of what we use here in the US to importing 60% from elsewhere.
Sorry, but we can not have it both ways.
Either we pay the sponsors of international terrorism for their oil, or produce our own.
Instead of my wife and I going out in separate vehicles to do errands, we go in one vehicle. Instead of going daily to the local grocery store, we go 2 or 3 times.
As I noted on another thread starting in August a fishing friend and I have basically retired his boat. We use his smaller engine on my bigger boat on the local lake and my bigger motor on the local river. We plan our fishing trips better re tides and other factors.
Another fishing friend wanted to drive up to the American River for some halfpounder steelhead fly fishing a week ago Friday. I checked the River flows and they were really too high for that fishing. We postponed the trip, and a friend who went had a miserable time due to the high flows. We avoided the waste of a 150 mile round trip.
Normally, my wife and I go to the SW coast of Oregon later this month or the first part of October. That is an 8 to 10 hour drive each way. This year we will go to the mid N California coast, a 2-3 hour drive.
My wife and I are using the internet and phone for a lot of other shopping. My wife and some of the other women in her office now car pool to go shopping and do it once a week instead of a couple.
When enough Americans respond like your family, us and others, the demand for gas will drop and the price will come down.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.