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POPSDemocrats Consider New Energy Strategy “I think there’s far more support across the board for SPR than anything else,” a senior aide said. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not said what the final SPR bill would look like, nor have they said what energy measures — which could also include a speculation bill — will be brought to the floor this week or under what rules.
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POPSSpeculators Chase the Money not Make the Money
I have a couple concerns about this story. One, even though it's a very small incident that had a negligible impact on the markets, I have a feeling politicians are going to use it as an example to introduce laws prohibiting or reducing oil trading. This despite the fact that there's even more research out there that says trading has not artificially inflated prices. It's supply and demand people - demand is greatly increasing, while supply is staying flat - of course prices are going to skyrocket. Second, it uses the correlation between the increase in oil price and the amount of money going into oil futures. Yet another basic market principle people - investors are going to chase hot items. Oil starts to go up, people anticipate it continuing to go up due to supply/demand issues, investors invest in it to hopefully make a profit. Finally, don't forget the dollar - people use oil as a hedge against inflation, which his been going up due in part to the weakening dollar.
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POPSProcess Theology, very difficult but worth trying I think process theology will in the future be accepted as a new paradigm. But it will take time for the new ideas to gain acceptance. Whitehead's position as a brilliant mathematician adds credence for me. Echoes of Leibniz
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POPSThe DRILL Act (Drill here, drill now!) "Where better to drill than the NATIONAL Petroleum Reserve. That is what it is for. That is why it was set aside. The National Petroleum Reserve. "My colleagues, situated on the North Slope of Alaska, this Reserve is no pipe dream like ANWR - which is a bumper sticker approach of our energy woes. 10.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil! "Far more than ANWR, which is not open to leasing. And if opened, would be far behind bringing energy to Americans than the National Petroleum Reserve. "In Alaska, 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas has been stranded - think about that - 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - because there is no pipeline to bring it to market. Elsewhere, there is 68 million acres of federal lands. Onshore and offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf. Under oil and gas leases. That are not producing. May be subject to speculation. Being warehoused. "I say drill it! Drill it.
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POPSWhy commodity traders have had such an influence on the coffee market A lot of the volitility and high market prices this year has been due to speculative futures trading. I had wondered why this was so influencial this year, and this article summarizes another piece in the trade press on how these markets have changed and why the market price of coffee has a lot to do with folks who have nothing to do with coffee. The original PDF is at http://www.coffeetalk.com/images/CTJun08web.pdf (BTW, I believe this applies to oil prices as well.)
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POPSNeed Oil? Out of s..t luck! More to come, just wait and see A people that have lived for eons without the happy consumer garbage we are used to, the middle east has little or nothing to loose. Here is a Proverb from Saudi Arabia: " My Father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son is flying airplanes, his son will ride a camel."
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POPSReid: Spending Bills Will Likely Wait Until Bush Is Gone Reid’s statement, while not unexpected, adds a note of finality to speculation that the Senate would act on the 12 annual appropriation bills. He also said that he doesn’t expect Congress to return for a post-election, lame-duck session. Under that scenario, Congress would only be in session for another six weeks this year.
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POPSPelosi: Drilling In Protected Areas ‘A Hoax’ 
Democrats would not say when these bills would be ready for floor consideration. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) took to the floor to again criticize Democrats for dodging votes on energy bills, charging that Democrats are avoiding votes on the opening up of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and the OCS. Hoyer soon followed to retort, saying he and Democratic leaders have for weeks been urging for drilling on approved acres, only to have those efforts blocked by Republicans. He blamed Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney – the “two oil men in the White House” – and Republicans for setting an energy policy that has driven up gas prices and steered record profits to the energy companies. “As every serious person who has studied this issue knows, the proposals that Democrats are producing are shams and hoaxes designed to provide political cover and not to produce more American energy and lower gas prices,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.
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POPSAirlines Ask Customers to Help Lower Oil Prices There's ongoing debate over whether or not speculators are responsible for the price of oil, but the CEOs of several major airlines are not so uncertain. In a letter to their frequent fliers, they've asked customers to petition Congress to lower the price of oil by regulating speculation. Do you think this tactic will work? Is it a publicity stunt designed to make the airlines look sympathetic to nickel-and-dimed fliers? What do you think?
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POPSIran tests missiles, heightening tension with West The White House told Iran to "refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world."... ...means in plain english, "Don't antagonize us and by and large, we are the World!" "In anyway, we have all the rights in the world to test everything, including the missiles!" The arrogance of the US Govt. is the reason for more than half the anger and anguish of the world! {It does not mean that what Iran has done is correct!}
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POPSXBox 360 Price Cut Coming The price cut comes right before Microsoft gives a big presentation at the E3 conference -- so there's some speculation that they're going to introduce a new model with more power or extra features.
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POPSOil: $60/bbl. by next year (?) I agree that the oil market has been driven by speculation. I'd _love_ to see $60/bbl. if only to screw the world's oil-dictators. But should it go that low again? The best way to screw the world's oil-dictators is to find a successful alternative energy source and $60/bbl. oil will only dampen demand for alternatives. BTW, such wild price swings are a typical feature of an item whose supply is dwindling.
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