[dukey]

http://deconsumption.typepad.com/decons ... _empt.html
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')oldman Sachs [on July 12] tweaked the composition of their “benchmark” Goldman Sachs Commodity Index [GSCI].
Prior to Goldman's revision of the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index in July, unleaded gas accounted for 8.45% (dollar weighting) of the GSCI. Now unleaded gas is only 2.30%.

So What’s Wrong With This? As Bill King points out, “Goldman's changes probably induced arbs, commercial hedgers, and other traders to sell September and October unleaded gasoline future contracts to avoid possible (settlement, delivery, etc.) problems. September futures expired in August; October contracts expire September 29. So unleaded gasoline prices collapsed in August and September.”

I would like to “restate” what Mr. King said: What this means folks, is that hedge funds and institutional money that “TRACKS THE INDEX” were FORCED TO SELL 75% of their gasoline futures to conform with the reconstituted GSCI. And if anyone hasn’t noticed the timing of the price of the gasoline price collapse…just in time for November’s Mid Term Elections!

So don’t be fooled into believing that potential energy shortages have “magically been solved.” In all likelihood – much of the recent decline in the price of gasoline we have all “welcomed” has been the result of paper tricks being played on what amounts to a wealthy flock of sheep. But in the meantime, filler up!"

[Zardoz]

*continues working on his I-told-you-so diatribe*

[max_power29]

Zardoz, I keep wondering if they are going to let the low prices roll through christmas in order to throw a bone to the retailers; and as a bonus use the retail sales figures as a nother indicator they can use to proclaim the strength of the house of cards to the sheople. So if the prices don't start rising mid-november, just wait until after new years.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('max_power29', '.')..So if the prices don't start rising mid-november, just wait until after new years.

[IslandCrow]

Looking at my charts of the 20 day moving average, where there has been drop of about $15 from the peak, and putting it together with the above article suggests that: speculators can add between 20% and 25% of the price of oil

With this sort of variation spotting peak oil from the market figures gets very very cloudy.

Still if $60 seems to be the current base this is still way up from the highs of 2004 when Brent crude got into the low $50s.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IslandCrow', 'W')ith this sort of variation spotting peak oil from the market figures gets very very cloudy.

[JustinFrankl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IslandCrow', 'W')ith this sort of variation spotting peak oil from the market figures gets very very cloudy.

[Polemic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.')..The battle was, of course, between "the old establishment and the nouveau riche." The old establishment's financial structure was Republican to the core, while the Jewish investment bankers and conglomerate builders were strongly represented in the Democratic party, though they often hedged their bets with campaign donations to both sides. Even so, the Nixon administration immediately directed the Justice Department's antitrust division against what has been called the "Jewish-cowboy connection," that is, the Wall Street financiers and Texas oil men. The Jewish-cowboy connection, according to G. William Domhoff, who coined the term, contains some oil companies (e.g., Amerada-Hess, Tidewater, Kerr McGee, Halliburton), airlines (American, Braniff, Continental), movies (Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, [MGMJ, and "best of all,... consumer goods and merchandising where Sears, Jewel Tea, Gimbel's, Macy's, City Stores, Allied Department Stores head a star-studded list.

Jews and Money: The Myths and the Reality, Gerald Krefetz, Ticknor & Fields, New Haven and New York, 1982, p. 12.

[Chaparral]

I got out when the stuff dropped to 19400 for the Sept contract. I am staying out of everything except a few grain contracts until the elections have passed. Things smelled funny.

[pup55]

EIA

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ell me where to get the raw data on gas and oil prices for the last decade,

[Zardoz]

It's good to be king:

Goldman profit up on banking, gains

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')oldman Sachs Group Inc., the largest investment bank by market value, said on Tuesday that its quarterly profit rose 93 percent on investment gains, banking fees and strong trading results.

Goldman capped off what is expected to be a record year for Wall Street as fiscal fourth-quarter net income increased to $3.15 billion, or $6.59 a share, for the three months ended November 30, from $1.63 billion, or $3.35, in the year-ago period. Net revenue rose 47 percent to $9.41 billion.

[firestarter]

Hey, Zardoz, it's because they work harder and are smarter than the rest of us Over at Clusterfuck Nation, Kunstler lets us in on an angry rant on the subject:

Kunstler's rant

[lateStarter]

I liked the part where the top 50 at GS will EACH get a nice $25 million bonus check this $MAS... Not bad...

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('firestarter', 'H')ey, Zardoz, it's because they work harder and are smarter than the rest of us Over at Clusterfuck Nation, Kunstler lets us in on an angry rant on the subject:

Kunstler's rant

[Niagara]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'I') liked the part where the top 50 at GS will EACH get a nice $25 million bonus check this $MAS... Not bad...

[128shot]

Well, I'm glad I work there.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('128shot', 'W')ell, I'm glad I work there.

[jupiters_release]

Have a friend who works at GS, only 26 years old, low down on the pole, making $160K/year but constantly working.

[Zardoz]

Yes, I really do wish I worked for Goldman Sachs:

Corks popping on Wall Street

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')t Goldman Sachs Group Inc., employees will earn an average of $622,000 this year, thanks to record profit of $9.4 billion.

[lateStarter]

What are all these guys (and gals) doing with their bonuses? I saw another related headline where the top knob at Morgan Stanley was getting a $48 million bonus... I actually hope they are splurging on Maserati's and houses in Bali. Maybe they are just re-investing their digital 1's and 0's in more of the same...

I know what I'd be doing with it...