Mugging: (n) An Assault With An Intent To Rob

What's going on? The truth of these ridiculous prices is a crime. Some facts:

-->Last week the price of crude oil reached about $130 a barrel after spiking to $140 briefly. The immediate cause? GUESSES by oil man T. Boone Pickens and Goldman Sachs that the price could go to $150 and $200 a barrel respectively in the near future on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX--the rich man's cocktail lounge).

-->Oil was at $50 a barrel in January 2007, then $75 a barrel in August 2007. Now at $130 a barrel, it is clear that oil pricing is speculative activity, having very little to do with physical supply and demand. An essential product—petroleum—is set by speculators operating on rumor, greed, and fear of wild predictions.

-->Over the time since early 2007, U.S. demand for petroleum has fallen by 1 percent and world demand has risen by 1.3 percent. Supplies of crude are so plentiful, according to the Wall Street Journal, “traders of physical crude oil say their market is suffering from too much supply, not too little.”

--> The major price determinant has moved from OPEC (having only 40% of the world production) and the oil companies to the speculators in the commodities markets. What goes on in the essentially unregulated New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)is now the place that leads to our skyrocketing gasoline bills. OPEC and the Big Oil companies reap the benefits and say that it’s not their doing, but that of the speculators (gives new meaning to “passing the buck).

....you get it...it's just another snow job by the fat cats who will continue to get away with this broad daylight heist until folks start caring about what is happening to their so-called "democracy" and decide TO DO something about it.

Peace

::MixMasterE::