Guy shown on MSNBC cant sell his Toyota

HAHAHAH!!!! Your funny

 

Mingy nailed it. Everyone has an agenda. They will stop at nothing to get everyone in line.

 

Most of the time “they” are not organized or competent enough to pull off their “agenda”. That’s the problem with conspiracy theories in general; it implies an ability that is not there.

 

However, groupthink is a very common phenomenon, and it ain't for nothing TV stations watch their competitors news 24/7. I do believe the Chmosky analysis (Manufacturing Consent) which shows how media owners tend to have aligned interests, etc., just as Taco owners would.

Now, given less and less money is spent on journalism (for the love of god - American Idol makes the news), and there are fewer independant sources (more and more TV 'competitors' 'share' news production), it isn't hard to imagine coralling them into reporting on certain things, like, for instance, non-existant WOMD (not that that ever happened, of course )

 

I would agree with everything you said. My point is simply that the end result is more often accidental than the result of a conscious plan by a group of individuals.

 

I completely agree!

 

Within any long term (permanent) trend there will always be short to intermediate term fluctuations. The question is where are gas prices going to be in five or ten years. GM’s Wagoner is betting the future of General Motors that they will be up. I have to agree.

This giant potential supply in the Bakken formation is intriguing but you still have to get it out of the ground in some kind of cost effective way.

As far as Mr. Hall goes he hits upon the problem of demand. This is from the article…

A big question among economists is whether emerging markets, such as China, India and Latin America, will be affected by an economic slowdown.

Even though their economies may see some slowing, "their growth still defies description," Mr. Hall said.

"China’s middle class is growing by the Canadian population every year," he said

 

^That isn't any different than any other time in history. There are always "emerging markets" that affect supply and demand.

I wouldn't trust a thing any domestic manufacturer says because they've been wrong time and again. As I've mentioned, gas prices have been going up since 2001 so where have Ford/GM/Chrysler been all this time?

"Long term trend", does that include inflation? Because, obviously, inflation is always a factor. 10 years from now, a dollar will not be worth the amount it is today.

 

You keep making the argument that speculation is the main cause of the rise in gas prices. I think global demand is the cause. Not all emerging markets are created equal. 1.3 billion in China and 1.1 billion in India far outweigh anything global oil speculators could do to prices. If it is all speculation like the housing bubble and the dot-com bust, then for sure prices will crash. But the economic realities behind the rise in gas prices are in fact realities and not fantasies.

 

It's a combination of both.. rise in demand and speculation. The guys on wall street panic every time an oil rich nation has a political issue because they fear that future supply of oil will be cut off. The start buying up what there is on the market creating an artificial demand which brings prices up. Then (usually) when the political unrest is calmed then Wall Street settles down a bit as well. Yes we use more these days however that only contributes to the Wall Street panic every time a hurricane or something causes potential disruption in supply. Drivers can cut their usage all they want but Wall Street is still going to panic and send prices up. The only way to stop this panic is to create your own source of fuel that can be sustained without the worry of what a foreign nation political status is on any given day. Whether than fuel be oil, solar, natural gas, etc... the need to eliminate the foreign dependancy is the key.

Back in the day the US could have closed it's boarders and still stood on it's own while the rest of the world crumbled. Today we are so dependant on foreign nations for not only fuel but many many other things that the US has grown "weak" in their ability to stand on it's own and sustain itself.

WalMart would collapse if China suddenly didn't make the products we all buy. The collapse of WalMart would send shockwaves through the retail industry and hurt the economy just as much as this high fuel price thing has.

The housing market collapse is partly to blame as well. The US economy is percieved by other countries to be collapsing with the housing market being one of the biggest driving forces. That in turn causes the strength of the "almighty dollar" to weaken which in turn causes prices to go up because the dollar doesn't buy as much as it used to. There was talks about changing over to the Euro for stock trading and talks still continue regarding this. Why because the dollar is weak and isn't as almighty as it used to be.

Welcome to economy 101 .. it's not the use of fuel that's causing all the problems. Way to many other factors going into this one.

 

Nothing you said is untrue. All I’m saying is global demand is the main driver, followed by a stagnant supply. Economics 101!

And I should add, there is no end in sight for these two main drivers. Even GM has that one figured out!

 

This is a trip. Econ 101 taught me the rules of supply and demand. Well the supply isn't going up very fast. And there is a limited supply, and it's controlled by countries that are threats to the US. Also the demand is going up with population. But don't forget the weak dollar, has to do with this to. A stronger dollar and the price of oil will go down.

 

I'll agree with stagnant supply... however OPEC has already said they're meeting world demand and the US government won't let companies drill on US soil so it's a percieved supply shortage IMO not 100% based in reality. To keep prices down you increase supply which is doable but all the other political factors stagnant that supply. We really don't have a shortage we just don't have the power we used to as a nation to control the supply.

 

Domestically we can thank the environmentalists for the stagnant supply.

On the demand side, there is a combined 2.4 billion people in China and India that all want to become middle class. Where is the supply going to come from to meet this demand? The US is competing with this emerging trend for oil. The answer is already apparent. Rising prices will curb demand, but not enough to change the trend.

I should add that rising prices will also have people scrambling to find new oil. But the easy oil has already been found.