$134 / barrel oil

In a few of these poorer countries, 12, 40, and 89 cents seems like a $5 gallon!

They were highest during the freeze:)

China is the big lion as they are building roads at the highest rate in history.
(guess what kind of material that is?)

They are in a gigantic boom never seen before in history.

Rickshaws to gas guzzlers for two Billion.

$4.45 in Chicago by the way (highest in the nation.

Does that mean gold cost less in those countries too?

If so, I’ll pack an empty suitcase and buy my ticket tonight.:roll:

China is putting all of the manufacturers out of business with cheap products, that takes a lot of oil to produce. So is it really saving any money, when you shop at Walmart? To blame this on Bush, is utterly ridiculous, if you want to blame someone, blame the speculators on the stock exchange floor, bidding on futures. Better than that, blame yourselves on election day, when you pull the handle for your guy! :roll:

Really?

Illinois’ 2007 electricity rates, however, increased much more than that, between 26 percent and 55 percent on average, after they had been frozen for a decade as part of a 1997 state law. In a deal with utilities, lawmakers back then agreed to decrease and freeze rates, promising that the price-setting process would transition from a state-regulated to a deregulated system once the law expired.

Gee , I wish I could vote for Bush again Ken.

Yes Sarcasim.

I don’t care where it is, if they can produce it and sell it for $.12 a gallon at a profit, what does that tell you? Does that sound like a supply and demand problem, or a shortage? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

It looks to me like investors, in the absence of a real estate bubble, have discovered fossil fuel.

Bingo!

Speculators are betting high oil 8 years out. There will be plenty of winners and loosers.

  • The change has been signalled by record-high oil prices for contracts stretching out to 2016, as well as for prompt delivery, as institutional investors and end-users alike take the longer view.*
  • “The futures market was designed as a short-term hedging tool, but has been taken over in the last couple of years by financial players pricing in a multi-year outlook,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix.*
  • “The fundamentals rule, but the question is whether the futures market should reflect the fundamentals of the next few months or the next few years.”*
  • Front-month U.S. futures hit a record on Wednesday of m*ore than $130 a barrel, while contracts for delivery in 2016 exceeded $140.

Mike ,The monopoly energy company was making huge profits during the freeze.

The only city close to us was Boston , when it came to getting the shaft.

I am for free trade ,BUT feel utilities would be better off under government control for many reasons which I will not even begin to speak of here.

Check out the ciizens utility fighter sites for more info.

Keep reading Bob.

*Now that the law is off the books, the state’s two main investor-owned utilities are buying power at market rates. Those costs are passed along. In turn, most Illinois customers are suddenly paying more than the artificially low rates they paid under the freeze. *
Lawmakers, lobbyists and consumer advocates have known for years this would happen, but they didn’t know the state’s regulatory Illinois Commerce Commission would restructure the way utilities buy and distribute power through an auction. As a result of the September 2006 auction, utilities bought power in bulk at a fixed price. Business and residential customers who use all-electric heat are paying the greatest increases, anecdotally as high as 300 percent.

That auction idea was insane and screwed us.

I believe in free market, but major monopoly companies that control our pocket books need to be controlled them selves.

Another newsletter’s view:

Oil at $130 is C-R-A-Z-Y! What’s crazy about it is how fast the move has happened. I’ve long expected oil to trade as high as $150 a barrel, but that was over a period of years, or so I thought. Oil’s move is nothing short of stunning. Especially considering the global slowdown in growth we are experiencing!!

I think we have a couple of factors at play here: 1) you have a TON of spec money bulling oil higher, but 2) demand is clearly and vastly outstripping supply. Do you really think that at $130 a barrel anyone in OPEC is actually holding back on their oil production??? Heck no, they can’t pump it out of the ground fast enough. Clearly the peak oil guys appear to be having the last laugh here.

I was on the Fox Business Network last week and one of the guests was railing against Goldman’s call of $142 oil. I remember when their call for $100 oil seemed ludicrous. How high can oil go? Seriously we have no way of knowing, $150, $180, $220, pick a number. I know if I had told you in 2002 (when oil was in the $30’s) that six years later oil would be $130 you would have called me crazy and never opened an email from me ever again.

In bull markets, prices go nuts.

*Can gas get to $7.50 a gallon? That would be an unqualified yes. *

*Illinois Auction produces lowest available market price:
ComEd rates in 2007 lower than 1995 rates

Even after the 2007 rate increase, electricity in Illinois will remain a tremendous value. ComEd rates will
remain well below similar sized cities around the country. Also, ComEd electricity rates have remained
stable while virtually all other consumer goods and services have increased.

Source document
*

Great, come over and pay the bill.

Facts are stubborn things my friend.

Mine are higher than your’s. Still want to trade?

Crude Oil Prices 1861 - 2008

This is in 2008 dollars. Notice the extraordinary increase in the last 5 or 6 years.

Weak US Dollar + Hedging against inflation brought on by successive rate cuts here in the US + hedge fund buying power = Oil at $134 today…
When the bubble does burst it may burst hard!!
Speaking with someone that trades oil, current supply and demand dictates around $80 a barrel.

AGREED!