[threadbear]

{Off-topic posts split to thread by emersonbiggins}

Of course we're unprepared for Peak Oil, the prices magically seem to settle lower everytime we reach the point where it becomes a genuine concern for the masses. Peak Oil, geologic reality AND short term gouging opportunity.

[AirlinePilot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', ' ') Peak Oil, geologic reality AND short term gouging opportunity.

[threadbear]

Who is this "we" you're referring to AP? Do you wish the forums to be a weapon of mass discussion or just a private party for people who think exactly as you do?

[emersonbiggins]

What was that you said about gouging again?

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '[')img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h57/texasrainmaker/ProfitsOilVsOtherIndust3rdQ2005.gif[/img]

What was that you said about gouging again?

[azreal60]

Wackenhut camps? Really, I wasn't aware wackenhut was doing prison camps for americans...

[threadbear]

If you live in the US, you generally have very little idea of what is going on in your own country.
From Prison related blog: "But if you’re an investor, this is all good news! Prison corporate profits are up! 37% in the last quarter!
Who needs a draft, when you can get all your military needs met by slave labor inmates paying their debt to the state? And the savings! Erm, did I say “savings?” Well, I meant “saving your children from the scourge of drugs.” Surely that’s worth any price?
There were 5 private prisons operating in 1995.They expect that number to exceed 350,000 in ten years" link

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'T')his is profits AFTER salaries and bonuses, Emerson. That's the point. That is also a dated graph. Try to find one that is current and accurately discounts for the windfall profits accrued directly to the top.

[threadbear]

Emerson, The information from MSNBC article is from the pulic relations arms of the oil industry. I hope you don't mind if I don't take it too seriously.
But getting back to the centrl theme of this thread, take a look at this from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
BP memo links budget cuts, oil spill

Severe company budget cuts at a time when BP PLC was making huge profits put pressure on managers to ignore corrosion protection at the oil company's North Slope pipelines that sprung leaks last year, according to internal company documents. A House committee investigating the Alaska spills, which forced a partial shutdown of Prudhoe Bay oil production last summer, released a half-dozen e-mails and other documents that showed that anti-corrosion programs repeatedly were targeted for cost cutting, including on the lines that eventually failed. "BP field managers were being asked to choose between saving money and critical maintenance," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee. He said the cost-cutting from 1999 through 2005 came at a time London-based BP PLC made a total of more than $106 billion in profits. link

[AirlinePilot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'I')f you live in the US, you generally have very little idea of what is going on in your own country.

[DantesPeak]

In addition to what I’ve said recently in other similar ‘price gouging’ threads, it should be noted that wholesale gasoline prices – at least the NYC harbor based futures price – are less than in most of the rest of the world. To a great extent, the prices we pay in the US and Canada are based on the marginal price paid for gasoline imports. For example, the West Coast of the US is paying higher prices to get costly imports from the Far East.

Granted those existing refineries in California will make more money as the cost of obtaining the marginal imported barrel of gasoline increases. Is that gouging? If drought wiped out half of the farmers’ crops but the other half could then charge twice as much, is that gouging? Why are unusual gains on home real estate not considered gouging – and effectively not even taxed as a capital gain in the US?

My definition of gouging would be intentionally trying to constrain supply and/or force prices higher to consumers that have no alternative place to buy. Anyway, there are already federal laws against conspiracies and monopolistic practices and state laws against price gouging. If there is widespread gouging, not only has no one provided proof but no one has even shown how it would be possible.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'I')f you live in the US, you generally have very little idea of what is going on in your own country.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', ' ')Anyway, there are already federal laws against conspiracies and monopolistic practices and state laws against price gouging. If there is widespread gouging, not only has no one provided proof but no one has even shown how it would be possible.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', ' ') Anyway, there are already federal laws against conspiracies and monopolistic practices and state laws against price gouging. If there is widespread gouging, not only has no one provided proof but no one has even shown how it would be possible.

[threadbear]

You have a finite resource, with maybe five years left, at current prices, unless you steadily and with great presence of mind, DRAG it out. Then, perhaps you can eek 10 years out of it at even higher prices. Supply already limited, is subject to overly rigorous controls, OR through the opposite, letting it rot. Either way, it all serves oil corporations really well, now doesn't it?

[AirlinePilot]

thread, I'll make a prediction for you and this is based on what others are saying here and my own observations about "how things work".
The oil companies and anyone associated with infrastructure,exploration and probably just about anything to do with Oil, NG, Gasoline and liquid fuels will do very well over the next year or so. After that I believe many of these companies will get whacked by whats coming just like everyone else. There will be no avoiding the ever increasing cost of extracting resource from the planet. What I also think will happen is that the government will step in and do everything in its power to subsidize these companies for a good while because oil and NG are essential.

Real gouging is what we saw here in GA after Katrina. Gasoline at 6$ a gallon within 48 hours of the colonial pipeline news. It went on for exactly one day and then the state cracked down with laws already on the books to prevent it. It worked. Very stiff fines and possible jail time here. Reporting and stopping the crimes was easy, its kind of high vis.
No one is going to get out of this smelling good. They might be making a butt load of cash right now but that wont last.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 't')hread, I'll make a prediction for you and this is based on what others are saying here and my own observations about "how things work". The oil companies and anyone associated with infrastructure,exploration and probably just about anything to do with Oil, NG, Gasoline and liquid fuels will do very well over the next year or so. After that I believe many of these companies will get whacked by whats coming just like everyone else. There will be no avoiding the ever increasing cost of extracting resource from the planet. What I also think will happen is that the government will step in and do everything in its power to subsidize these companies for a good while because oil and NG are essential.
Real gouging is what we saw here in GA after Katrina. Gasoline at 6$ a gallon within 48 hours of the colonial pipeline news. It went on for exactly one day and then the state cracked down with laws already on the books to prevent it. It worked. Very stiff fines and possible jail time here. Reporting and stopping the crimes was easy, its kind of high vis. No one is going to get out of this smelling good. They might be making a butt load of cash right now but that wont last.

[MonteQuest]

Are We Being Gouged at the Pump? $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he cry in the streets these days is that Big Oil is gouging us, at the pump and at the refineries, as well as, manipulating the price of crude oil.
What's the reality?
Folks, the reality is there is just 'no evidence' to support claims of gouging, now, or for the last 20 years. Oil companies do not set the price of oil or gasoline anymore than farmers set the price of corn.
Oil, like corn, is a publicly traded commodity. It is bought and sold like a stock on three different exchanges: NYMEX, London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), and the SGX - Singapore Exchange.
Traders bid the price up, much like an auction. Oil companies naturally win. But the crude price is set by market demand, not by some cabal of oil tycoons sitting around a big table. When there are more buyers than sellers, the price goes up.
In fact, if you have a good broker for your stock allocation, he has you in energy stocks right now. Every time you buy into the oil futures market, you help drive up the price of oil.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '[')b]Are We Being Gouged at the Pump?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he cry in the streets these days is that Big Oil is gouging us, at the pump and at the refineries, as well as, manipulating the price of crude oil. What's the reality?
Folks, the reality is there is just 'no evidence' to support claims of gouging, now, or for the last 20 years. Oil companies do not set the price of oil or gasoline anymore than farmers set the price of corn.
Oil, like corn, is a publicly traded commodity. It is bought and sold like a stock on three different exchanges: NYMEX, London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), and the SGX - Singapore Exchange.
Traders bid the price up, much like an auction. Oil companies naturally win. But the crude price is set by market demand, not by some cabal of oil tycoons sitting around a big table. When there are more buyers than sellers, the price goes up.
In fact, if you have a good broker for your stock allocation, he has you in energy stocks right now. Every time you buy into the oil futures market, you help drive up the price of oil.

[cube]

Oil isn't the only thing that has gone up in price.

However I guess commodities like corn, wheat, and rice just aren't "sexy" enough to deserve their own conspiracy theories.