Worried About Price of Gas? End U.S. Wars

Oh my god...Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! Welcome to understanding. The reason they invaded Iraq was to take oil OFF the market and cause the price to rise (supply vs demand). Five years later some Americans are coming around and seeing the racket for what it really is.

Starred!

I think for many educated, free-thinking, open-minded folks on ATS, this has been knowledge since years ago.

The chaos in the Middle East coupled with how speculative the Oil Industry and Stock Markets are ensures that prices will continue to be artificially inflated for some time.

The Oil Exchanges are like a game of Chinese Whispers. One false little bit of unfounded speculation that production could slow down and it gets blown out to a catastrophe of epic proportions and the consumer pays the price.

They honestly need cut the speculators out of the business. Why the hell are the major Oil exchanges in the US and UK?
Set up indigenously run Oil Exchanges in the Middle East that can deliver honest prices based on their solid information about their own production, so the consumer isn't constantly being raped at the gas pump when they shouldn't be!

Yeah the war in the middle east has made oil prices rise, but don't forget that CHINA has alot to do with it also. Supply and demand, simple economics actually so you can't just blame everything on the war.

the war on terror is good for technological development we all benefit from that .. only thing is that not only the bad people die.. and that is regretful.
But if you are worried about the price of gas do something else.. stop the US dependency on oil .. go over on hydrogen power and nuclear fusion.
the military have to disclose the radical power generation methods they have at there secret facilities .. even that is a tool on war on terror because we the west will have no dependency on the oil from the middle east and we will take the main reasoning for muslim terrorist.. the claim we are in iraq and afghanistan and other places for the oil.

reply to post by MarkLuitzen

the war on terror is good for technological development we all benefit from that .. only thing is that not only the bad people die.. and that is regretful.

Are you serious? The War on the Phantom Menace is a GOOD thing because it advances technology?

Maybe I've missed something, exactly what new technology has resulted from Iraq and Afghanistan?

even that is a tool on war on terror because we the west will have no dependency on the oil from the middle east and we will take the main reasoning for muslim terrorist.. the claim we are in iraq and afghanistan and other places for the oil.

You just disproved your own point. Of course the US in Iraq & Afghanistan because of Oil. America economy is literally addicted to it and without extra production it would suffer.
Not to mention the Republican party is heavily connected to the Oil Industry and make record profits from it.

I am not sure if its incompetance or greed but I suspect both are at work.

If you think $3.50 per gallon is bad try paying $6.00 in europe.

I think the situation is getting out of hand and unless corrective measures start taking effect they can kiss their sorry ass good bye. People will not tolerate such BS much longer.

The media has a huge responsibility in all this ignorant fear mongering(which causes artificial price guaging) and war profitting(encouraging more and more wars with no end in sight) state of affairs.

Originally posted by skyshow
Oh my god...Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! Welcome to understanding. The reason they invaded Iraq was to take oil OFF the market and cause the price to rise (supply vs demand).

All these same people before Iraq were saying just the opposite. We were supposed to be going into Iraq to get the oil so Bush can bring down the price of oil just in time for the elections. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. It seems like most base they arguments on which way the wind in blowing. Sad, just sad.

reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira


The reason all the oil exchanges are in the US and UK is because the racketeers in charge only deal in US dollars by mutual agreement. Saddam tried to change this; that's why the US took his supply off the market. Ergo, higher prices for everyone, because supply has been curtailed. That was supposed to be a warning to everyone else.

However Imanutjob said, "Phooey on Uey!" He created his own Oil Bourse that now only trades in Euros and Yen, thus eliminating the US middleman. This hurts the American balance of payments enormously. Or should it properly be called the Greatly Disguised Worthless Paper Currency Shuffle? In other words, Tehran told George to take a hike. Interestingly enough, a couple of days ago, so did the Saudis.

America as power broker is broke. You can bet George is throwing a tantrum in the Rose Garden. Maybe a few more AC strike forces in the region will cause Tehran to capitulate? Not likely.

Everyone is skittish about the Yankee greenback. It's like holding onto a greased axle with sopping wet hands. Something has got to give, and we have only a few months to decide which is the best course of action. Unfortunately, it looks as though all the cards have been played and are already on the table. Do you go for the Gold (er, oil); or do hold steady and sink slowly into the sunset; or do you retreat and succumb to the inevitable?

reply to post by rancelot


And the "inevitable" is what exactly?

You do realise that all this madness could have easily been thwarted by not attacking Iraq, don't you? They promised us under $30 a barrel before the conflict and now its almost $130!

What happened to all the iraqi oil that was supposed to flood the market?

Originally posted by The Godfather of Conspira
The chaos in the Middle East coupled with how speculative the Oil Industry and Stock Markets are ensures that prices will continue to be artificially inflated for some time.

The Oil Exchanges are like a game of Chinese Whispers. One false little bit of unfounded speculation that production could slow down and it gets blown out to a catastrophe of epic proportions and the consumer pays the price.

They honestly need cut the speculators out of the business.

I started a thread about the speculators in the Peak Oil Forum, right here.

The "speculators" use things like WAR to raise the price of crude oil, stating that due to the instability in the Middle East, blah blah blah.

Found a pretty informative article about this, it also says that the US Energy Futures used to be regulated by the government to prevent fraud and the manipulation of crude oil prices, but now trading can be done without being regulated, which is allowing the manipulation of the price of crude oil by "speculators".

‘Perhaps 60% of Today’s Oil Price is Pure Speculation’

“Until recently, US energy futures were traded exclusively on regulated exchanges within the United States, like the NYMEX, which are subject to extensive oversight by the CFTC, including ongoing monitoring to detect and prevent price manipulation or fraud. In recent years, however, there has been a tremendous growth in the trading of contracts that look and are structured just like futures contracts, but which are traded on unregulated OTC electronic markets. Because of their similarity to futures contracts they are often called “futures look-alikes.”

The only practical difference between futures look-alike contracts and futures contracts is that the look-alikes are traded in unregulated markets whereas futures are traded on regulated exchanges. The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 in the waning hours of the 106th Congress.

The impact on market oversight has been substantial. NYMEX traders, for example, are required to keep records of all trades and report large trades to the CFTC. These Large Trader Reports, together with daily trading data providing price and volume information, are the CFTC’s primary tools to gauge the extent of speculation in the markets and to detect, prevent, and prosecute price manipulation. CFTC Chairman Reuben Jeffrey recently stated: “The Commission’s Large Trader information system is one of the cornerstones of our surveillance program and enables detection of concentrated and coordinated positions that might be used by one or more traders to attempt manipulation.”

This "Loop Hole" is what is now allowing speculators to manipulate gas prices and drive them higher & higher!

And guess who is partly to blame for this getting so out of hand! YUP, you guessed it!

Then, apparently to make sure the way was opened really wide to potential market oil price manipulation, in January 2006, the Bush Administration’s CFTC permitted the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the leading operator of electronic energy exchanges, to use its trading terminals in the United States for the trading of US crude oil futures on the ICE futures exchange in London – called “ICE Futures.”

Previously, the ICE Futures exchange in London had traded only in European energy commodities – Brent crude oil and United Kingdom natural gas. As a United Kingdom futures market, the ICE Futures exchange is regulated solely by the UK Financial Services Authority. In 1999, the London exchange obtained the CFTC’s permission to install computer terminals in the United States to permit traders in New York and other US cities to trade European energy commodities through the ICE exchange.

A Senate report pointed all these problems out in 2006, but the report was ignored!

In June 2006, oil traded in futures markets at some $60 a barrel and the Senate investigation estimated that some $25 of that was due to pure financial speculation. One analyst estimated in August 2005 that US oil inventory levels suggested WTI crude prices should be around $25 a barrel, and not $60.

That would mean today that at least $50 to $60 or more of today’s $115 a barrel price is due to pure hedge fund and financial institution speculation. However, given the unchanged equilibrium in global oil supply and demand over recent months amid the explosive rise in oil futures prices traded on Nymex and ICE exchanges in New York and London it is more likely that as much as 60% of the today oil price is pure speculation. No one knows officially except the tiny handful of energy trading banks in New York and London and they certainly aren’t talking.

So, the war wasn't the only way that Bush & Co. have manipulated the price of oil, he also paved the way for the "Speculators!"

[edit on 5/18/2008 by Keyhole]

i think it wont because its been up here before and we haven't left so i think we need to get out now before its to late and we get #ed.

Could it be that the ease that the US went to war coupled with their national debt and all, is because the US & UK mortaged the war against the major oil companies, and now the oil companies are getting their money back plus interest.

That way they get their war, and the people at the top in government who are also at the top of oil companies cash in on it.

reply to post by rancelot


Wait a second, your saying it's justifiable to invade other nations and overthrow their governments just because Oil profits are curtailing and America doesn't have the influence it once did over the Oil Industry?

And from under what rock did you crawl out of?

reply to post by WhatTheory


Who are "all these same people"? Can you maybe elaborate a bit more and clarify what you mean?