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Contrary to popular belief, the US president does not set the price of oil - if he did, you can be sure we wouldn't be having such upward fluctauations so close to a presidential election.
The prices is set by oil traders at Mercantile Exchanges in New York, London and Dubai. In a perfect world one would assume that world prices are the result of market forces determining by the supply and demand of oil.
The author, however, suggects that world prices are increasingly detatched from economic fundamentals and fuelled by greed, speculation and an obligarchy of oil corporations.
And if you take away the ability to provide more oil through exploration, deny infrastructure for timely delivery, lock up federal lands so they cannot be explored, and threaten and demonize oil companies as a matter of policy---what do you suppose happens to oil supply and what can speculators expect from oil prices?
They will go up and they will speculate in such a way that ensures they do so.
The current administration has policies in place that impact the availability of oil. To suggest that this has no effect on the supply of gasoline is kind of rediculous.