Quote:
Originally Posted by woodynh
Unfortunately supply and demand has nothing to do with the cost of oil right now. Supplies are higher then they have ever been and usage is down considerabily over what it was a few years ago. I believe at the current useage there is an excess of 6 million barrels a day. So supply is at a very high level. Usage has increased slightly but very slightly. Opec has struck a deal with china and lowered their prices but raised the prices to the US.
The root of the problem is not the oil companies as you think it is speculators on wall street. They have seen how high oil has climbed and now with the economy showing some positive indicators they are betting oil prices will rise and by buying oil futures like they are it is driving the oil prices up.
Now the part that will really piss you off. Remember all the banks we just bailed out. Well they have been getting money at 0% interest from our goverment to stimulate the economy but instead of using this money for consumer loans they are buying up investments. One of there favorite investments right now is oil futures. Banks are one of the biggest investers currently in oil futures.
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I would agree. At the same time China is buying up the oil in Afghanistan and Iraq we are sending our troops and money to protect them and rebuild the infrastructure there. China also has an interest in Iranian oil. So we become the big Satan while other countries benefit from our attempt to protect the world from terrorism. One of the major reasons Russia is hesitant to agree to restrictions against Iran's nuclear ambitions is that there are 25 million Iranian Moslem,s in Russia and they also have an economic interest in trading with Iran.