Long Range Forecaster: GOM at risk - OT comments split

[Frank2]

Funny, I basically told a group of major oil company executives the same thing on my Thursday morning briefing.

Why give these people more excuses to increase the price of their products?

Everyone keeps predicting this change and that, but, until it happens and is on the map, it's just speculation - and, is why people who trade in oil and gas futures are called "speculators" - this only hurts the common man (such as ourselves), every time we need to purchase gasoline...

It seems the only people to benefit are the speculators, the oil companies - and those they hire to give these "briefings"...

[Trader Ron]

Funny, I basically told a group of major oil company executives the same thing on my Thursday morning briefing.

Why give these people more excuses to increase the price of their products?

Everyone keeps predicting this change and that, but, until it happens and is on the map, it's just speculation - and, his why people who trade in oil and gas futures are called "speculators" - this only hurts the common man (such as ourselves), every time we pull into the gas station...

It seems the only people to benefit are the speculators, the oil companies - and those they hire to give these "briefings"...

Frank,

This is bogus. Million's have benefited by the rise in Crude Oil, by way of their 401Ks. I'm a portfolio manager and 60% of the stocks I have in my clients portfolios are in Energy and Metals. The problem is refining capacity. The economy hasn't been hurt by high gas prices.

One more thing. What are the people in the U.S. doing to conserve? Nothing! Take a look and see how fast people are driving.

[Frank2]

That's nice - for the professionals who have 401 plans - I'm talking about the poor and uneducated who work minumum wage jobs and have to struggle to pay $3.30 a gallon to drive 40 miles round-trip to work. They are not concerned about their vacation nest egg 20 years from now, but, struggle to keep food on the table in today's world of profit without conscience...

I'm one of those folks (for good or bad) who has friends on both sides of the fence - I know those who'll quickly tell me that they just spent $4,000 for a custom-made bicycle (as two did recently), but, I also know those who must wait 2 hours in 95 degree heat for a County bus, just to attend church every Sunday - please tell me which one stands to be hurt more by rising gasoline prices?

If you live in South Florida - take a drive through Florida City, South Bay or Belle Glade and see what I mean - these communities struggle, far from those in Coral Gables, Plantation and Weston who not only consider rising gas prices just a blip on their economic radar screen, but, as you mentioned, consider it a "blessing" when it comes to improving their nest egg...

I know the above is off-topic, but, if this message board is going to encourage the rise in gas prices by saying "this will happen in the Gulf in three weeks", then, we should also allow for more sensible comments to balance the situation, before the situation at the pump gets any worse...

[GraysonDave]

Have to agree with Ron. The speculators provide liquidity to the market. The bottom line is, consumers purchase at these prices so the price stays up. Us consumers are the ones who are making the oil companies (and their stockholders like you and me) rich.

[Stormcenter]

That's nice - for the professionals who have 401 plans - I'm talking about the poor and uneducated who work minumum wage jobs and have to struggle to pay $3.30 a gallon to drive 40 miles round-trip to work. They are not concerned about their vacation nest egg 20 years from now, but, struggle to keep food on the table in today's world of profit without conscience...

I'm one of those folks (for good or bad) who has friends on both sides of the fence - I know those who'll quickly tell me that they just spent $4,000 for a custom-made bicycle (as two did recently), but, I also know those who must wait 2 hours in 95 degree heat for a County bus, just to attend church every Sunday - please tell me which one stands to be hurt more by rising gasoline prices?

If you live in South Florida - take a drive through Florida City, South Bay or Belle Glade and see what I mean - these communities struggle, far from those in Coral Gables, Plantation and Weston who not only consider rising gas prices just a blip on their economic radar screen, but, as you mentioned, consider it a "blessing" when it comes to improving their nest egg...

I know the above is off-topic, but, if this message board is going to encourage the rise in gas prices by saying "this will happen in the Gulf in three weeks", then, we should also allow for more sensible comments to balance the situation, before the situation at the pump gets any worse...

Excellent post Frank2.

[Steve]

>>This is bogus. Million's have benefited by the rise in Crude Oil, by way of their 401Ks. I'm a portfolio manager and 60% of the stocks I have in my clients portfolios are in Energy and Metals. The problem is refining capacity. The economy hasn't been hurt by high gas prices.

It's like this bra (and I do hold some metals - ATI which rocks) - I'm all happy with my portfolio and 401k. But as a single dad who has to commute 106 miles a day to work and back (thanks to Katrina), gasoline over $3.00 hurts me NOW. When I've got to pay $60 or $70 to fill up my 4 cyl truck, that's money out of my pocket now. While that extra $20 or $30 doesn't even buy a decent carton of cigarettes anymore, it's still good for some groceries and lunch money. Consumers are hurt by rising gas prices at the moment they rise.

Steve

[caneman]

And I would add that for the average 401k holder with modest sums of money in them the amount of money the you make off the over inflated gas prices is iconsequential when compared to the very expensive Gas prices you've been paying for some time and appratently will for a while to come..

[gtalum]

The fact is that we Americans got spoiled paying artificially low prices for gasoline for decades. Now that China and India are rising on the world market and consuming more resources, not to mention our own increases in using resources, the price of oil is only going to rise in the long term. It's time to find ways to conserve. Complaining about it isn't going to do any good. We are right now paying the price for the lack of foresight on the part of our political leaders who failed to improve our public transportation networks because of those artificially low prices, and on the part of American automakers for failing to develop fuel-efficient alternatives starting way back in the 1970's the first time this happened.

The rest of the world gets by on lower incomes and higher prices for fuel. We can do it too.

As has been mentioned, wise investing is the best way to hedge against rising commodities prices. And to caneman, my investments have risen by far more than I have paid for gasoline for the last several years.

[Ptarmigan]

Frank,

This is bogus. Million's have benefited by the rise in Crude Oil, by way of their 401Ks. I'm a portfolio manager and 60% of the stocks I have in my clients portfolios are in Energy and Metals. The problem is refining capacity. The economy hasn't been hurt by high gas prices.

One more thing. What are the people in the U.S. doing to conserve? Nothing! Take a look and see how fast people are driving.

Also, there is increased demand for petroleum in China and India. There have been no new refineries in the past 30 years. There are plenty of oil, but in hard to reach areas, mostly in cold areas.

[Ptarmigan]

The fact is that we Americans got spoiled paying artificially low prices for gasoline for decades. Now that China and India are rising on the world market and consuming more resources, not to mention our own increases in using resources, the price of oil is only going to rise in the long term. It's time to find ways to conserve. Complaining about it isn't going to do any good. We are right now paying the price for the lack of foresight on the part of our political leaders who failed to improve our public transportation networks because of those artificially low prices, and on the part of American automakers for failing to develop fuel-efficient alternatives starting way back in the 1970's the first time this happened.

The rest of the world gets by on lower incomes and higher prices for fuel. We can do it too.

As has been mentioned, wise investing is the best way to hedge against rising commodities prices. And to caneman, my investments have risen by far more than I have paid for gasoline for the last several years.

Lot of people like to think that Europeans don't drive much, but that's because they are in the central part of the big cities of Europe. Outside the city is different in Europe. Europeans pay higher gas prices than us and they also drive just as much as we do. They like their cars just like we do.

[Deputy Van Halen]

Trader Ron wrote:

Frank,

This is bogus. Million's have benefited by the rise in Crude Oil, by way of their 401Ks. I'm a portfolio manager and 60% of the stocks I have in my clients portfolios are in Energy and Metals. The problem is refining capacity. The economy hasn't been hurt by high gas prices.

One more thing. What are the people in the U.S. doing to conserve? Nothing! Take a look and see how fast people are driving.


Also, there is increased demand for petroleum in China and India. There have been no new refineries in the past 30 years. There are plenty of oil, but in hard to reach areas, mostly in cold areas.

I don't like politics on this board either. But if the moderators aren't going to pull these messages or lock the thread, then I feel the need to chime in.

The price of oil is set by the world wide marketplace, not by oil company executives. Period.

Some say that because poor people suffer from high gas prices, the oil companies should lower prices just out of the goodness of their hearts. If they did this, the result would be shortages (read: rationing and gas lines). It's an iron law of economics: if you force prices below the market-clearing price, shortages result. If you force prices above the market (as with some agricultural products in this country), an oversurplus results.

A different political/economic issue that is more relevant to hurricane matters is "price-gouging" laws. These laws cause death and suffering because they create a shortage of needed goods and services in an emergency.

[rsdoug1981]

How dare wxman57 do his job and inform his clients of the possibility of a changing weather pattern?! What kind of pro met is he? Personally, I don't know how he sleeps at night.

[gtalum]

Lot of people like to think that Europeans don't drive much, but that's because they are in the central part of the big cities of Europe. Outside the city is different in Europe. Europeans pay higher gas prices than us and they also drive just as much as we do. They like their cars just like we do.

True, Europeans outside of cities drive more than Europeans inside of cities. Fewer Europeans live outside of cities though, and they drive cars that are far more fuel efficient on average than the ones we drive. They also don't drive the massive behemoths that some people in the US feel the need to drive.

[GraysonDave]

I don't like politics on this board either. But if the moderators aren't going to pull these messages or lock the thread, then I feel the need to chime in.

The price of oil is set by the world wide marketplace, not by oil company executives. Period.

Some say that because poor people suffer from high gas prices, the oil companies should lower prices just out of the goodness of their hearts. If they did this, the result would be shortages (read: rationing and gas lines). It's an iron law of economics: if you force prices below the market-clearing price, shortages result. If you force prices above the market (as with some agricultural products in this country), an oversurplus results.

A different political/economic issue that is more relevant to hurricane matters is "price-gouging" laws. These laws cause death and suffering because they create a shortage of needed goods and services in an emergency.

Thanks, Deputy. You speak truth.