Posted on 07/10/2008 8:28:07 PM PDT by roostercogburn
The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading in oil futures to determine whether the surge in prices to record levels is the result of manipulation or fraud. They might want to take a look at wheat, rice and corn futures while they’re at it. The whole thing is a hoax cooked up by the investment banks and hedge funds who are trying to dig their way out of the trillion dollar mortgage-backed securities (MBS) mess that they created by turning garbage loans into securities.
(Excerpt) Read more at operationawakening.wordpress.com ...
Could a mere tulip bulb be worth $76,000? It is if people are willing to pay for it! It may sound preposterous, but this is exactly what happened in Holland in the 1630’s.
The seeds of this craze were planted in 1593. A man by the name of Conrad Guestner imported the first tulip bulb into Holland from Constantinople, in present day Turkey. After a few years, tulip bulbs became a status symbol and a novelty for the rich and famous. Eventually, tulip bulbs became a hot ticket item in neighboring Germany, as well. After some time, a few tulip bulbs contracted a non-harmful plant virus called mosaic. The effects of this mosaic virus were tulip petals with beautiful “flames” of color. This unique effect furthermore increased the value of the already rare and highly exclusive tulip bulb.
Initially, only the true connoisseurs bought tulip bulbs, but the rapidly rising price quickly attracted speculators looking to profit. It didn’t take long before the tulip bulbs were traded on local market exchanges, which were not unlike today’s stock exchanges. By 1634, tulip mania had feverishly spread to the Dutch middle class. Pretty soon everybody was dealing in tulip bulbs, looking to make a quick fortune. The majority of the tulip bulb buyers had no intentions of even planting these bulbs! The name of the game was to buy low and sell high, just like in any other market. The whole Dutch nation was caught in a sweeping mania, as people traded in their land, livestock, farms and life savings all to acquire 1 single tulip bulb!
http://www.stock-market-crash.net/tulip-mania.htm they the 100 heads are selling the same c/p they have been selling since the man bartered for a best cave position
Nothing would surprise me at this point. Not saying all this is factual, just sayin nothing surprises me anymore.
They’ll find the same thing they always find with these silly “investigations” - nothing. It’s far too big a global market for one group of people to move in any significant way. Oil is expensive because the current price is where supply and demand meet - to change it requires either a higher supply or a lower demand.
It is an interesting article.
One of the top oil people at Oppenheimer told Dick Morris that the price of oil s/b $60/barrel and the rest is due to speculators.
Where is that written by Morris?
If it’s a hoax then it’s the biggest in the history of the US and there wouldn’t be enough jail space for all those involved.
The big runup in oil prices reminds me of the payoff in the movie “Trading Places”, in which Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd destroy “The Duke Brothers” by planting a phoney, supposedly secret report saying the orange crop is not going to be very good and waiting until the Dukes have bought up lots of contracts for delivery of oranges, then when the real report saying the crop will be good is released, buying up all the now almost worthless contracts which the Dukes will still have to deliver on - I’ve watched the movie about a dozen times and still don’t quite follow how it works, and I’m not sure how close it would be to the oil situation, and it is only a movie - nevertheless, it somehow resonates with what’s going on now.......
The oil fiasco would be a close second though.
I saw him say that on TV - Hannity I think - about a month or so ago after a meeting he had with the Oppenheimer guy. You might be able to find something about this on his website.
“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.”Pelosi flails: Drilling is a “hoax” [Michelle Malkin]
And where is Enron today?
If, as the author claims the run-up in prices is due to speculation and no real problem with supply on the margin, those folks will be losing lots of money very quickly as US demand is down around 4.5%, exactly as happened with the housing-bubble and the internet-bubble, and exactly why we should not be bailing out anyone -- on either side -- of a bad mortgage.
Comparisons to overpriced tulips notwithstanding, artificial spikes in commodities cannot be sustained: there is simply not that much price elasticity. If the author is correct, the price of oil will crash.
I would think some of these financial institutions would have learned to stay away from any type of bubble market. Considering the beating they have taken in real estate.
But this is different situation with different politics involved. If the MSM admitted that there is plenty of recoverable oil, and that it is possible to retrieve it without destroying all wildlife on the planet, thus easing fears of oil shortages and global catastrophe, their RAT friends might be in trouble come November.
They couldn’t wait to help pop the real estate bubble.
Funny how they are helping blow this one up.
Sounds like the original post article.
Without all the boogiemen.
You don't think the retirement funds of ordinary folks are going to get out of this commodities mess with a profit, do you? Silly!
Then, in a moment of epiphany, I saw the last line:
The only time anyone in the Bush administration finds their conscience is when they’re offered a multi-million dollar “tell all” book deal.
I should have known: It's Bush's fault.
When the democrat party lapdog, Alan Colmes, keeps spittling the dem talking point of ‘millions of acres the oil companies aren’t drilling that they have leases on’, you can bet the democrats are puckered over the American people finally awakening to what democrap rule is going to mean to their every day lives of bread and circuses. Democrat lie. Expect a huge dump of lies with this exposure of their destructive policies. Drll now, drill here, in our yard, drill, drill drill ... I want to by darn find out if drilling WILL bring the artificially high prices down. My bet is, if the Congress would determine to do a ‘moon shot’ approach and go all out to get the resources flowing, the price would drop like a concrete bomb the morning after a vote!
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