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[livewire]

I'm sure you have noticed what gas prices have been doing.  Crude oil (and consequently gasoline and diesel) is skyrocketing because of the unrest in Libya, and the fears that the violence could spread to Saudi Arabia. 

I predict they are going to continue to climb, in the short term, at least.

A big problem I'm having right now, though, is that all the investors are pulling their money out of other commodities (primarily ag products), to dump into oil.

Corn and soybean prices are dropping like a rock.  The market WILL correct itself - it's just a matter of time.  I just hope it does it well before harvest this year.

I have never seen a market so volatile, and the experts say it's going to get worse.

What are your thoughts?

[BigRedDog]

The "free market" isn't always kind...

but it is the market

The bottom line is that most of us are going to have lower bottom lines!!!

[sawdust]

Yep... it will correct itself...eventually.   Part of the problems in the middle east happen when the govts there remove subsidies, and prices jump to market levels.

One of the main reasons we are so dependent on foreign oil, is that the producers aren't stupid.   They know that if they price oil out of reach, all it will do is drive consumers to alternative fuels and technologies.   So they price it just high enough, that alternatives aren't practical. 

[Baby Hitler]

Yep... it will correct itself...eventually.   Part of the problems in the middle east happen when the govts there remove subsidies, and prices jump to market levels.

One of the main reasons we are so dependent on foreign oil, is that the producers aren't stupid.   They know that if they price oil out of reach, all it will do is drive consumers to alternative fuels and technologies.   So they price it just high enough, that alternatives aren't practical. 

And the big money investors in the US don't care, as long as they make money it's all good.

Only when they can't make money on it anymore, will they start to look to other fuels and technologies.

[Professor H]

Until we have a leadership in our own country that decides to "invest" in our own resources we are beholden to the foreign controls (OPEC).   

Makes you wonder what the Department of Energy has been doing all these years 

Speculators are controlling commodities - not investors.
It would be interesting to see SEC stats on this.

[The Fuzz]

And the big money investors in the US don't care, as long as they make money it's all good.

Only when they can't make money on it anymore, will they start to look to other fuels and technologies.

It's not just the big money investors, FB.  Lots of everyday Joe's out there like me and you will follow their investment strategies too.....just on a much smaller scale.

[SidecarFlip]

I'm sure you have noticed what gas prices have been doing.  Crude oil (and consequently gasoline and diesel) is skyrocketing because of the unrest in Libya, and the fears that the violence could spread to Saudi Arabia. 

I predict they are going to continue to climb, in the short term, at least.

A big problem I'm having right now, though, is that all the investors are pulling their money out of other commodities (primarily ag products), to dump into oil.

Corn and soybean prices are dropping like a rock.  The market WILL correct itself - it's just a matter of time.  I just hope it does it well before harvest this year.

I have never seen a market so volatile, and the experts say it's going to get worse.

What are your thoughts?

I like it.  In as much as I'm a user, I want them to drop like a rock.  How about 2 bucks a bushel for corn??

For the grower and future contract prices, not so good.  I understand your pain, I also understand my gain.

[Griff]

I like it.  In as much as I'm a user, I want them to drop like a rock.  How about 2 bucks a bushel for corn??

For the grower and future contract prices, not so good.  I understand your pain, I also understand my gain.

As consumers, we only gain from falling prices if they are sustainable from the producer's perspective. The value chain includes everyone involved in the transaction. No profit for the farmer means no commodity for the consumer at some point in the near future. Profit is good for everyone. One sided profit is pure greed, no matter the side it resides at.

No profit for farmers means no farms...no food

peace

[Professor H]

I like it.  In as much as I'm a user, I want them to drop like a rock.  How about 2 bucks a bushel for corn??

For the grower and future contract prices, not so good.  I understand your pain, I also understand my gain.

Yep at the price of fertilizer and the costs - farmers will switch to other crops, corn shortage - prices rise.   Also the weather in South American corn producing countries affects the market prices and speculating traders.

Still can't figure out other than we have the bleeding green party in the Whitehouse - why we can't tap our own reserves and use the revenues to pay down the debt, stabilizing our prices and then we can use our food resources to get back the money squeezed out of the country over the past 40 years - since OPEC ran over Jimmy Carter.   

[sawdust]

Until we have a leadership in our own country that decides to "invest" in our own resources we are beholden to the foreign controls (OPEC).   

Makes you wonder what the Department of Energy has been doing all these years 

I assume you mean that we should merely be drilling for more oil here in the US, rather than investing in alternative forms of energy.   That seems to agree with your last post to "tap our own reserves".   But you failed to point out that the cost to do so, is much higher than what we pay to foreigners.   

So, such a policy would result in higher gas and oil prices here in the US.  Not quite sure how that could be done, without hitting imported oil with a hefty tariff.   But maybe that is the answer.   Unfortunately, it would probably devastate our economy.

[Baby Hitler]

Yep at the price of fertilizer and the costs - farmers will switch to other crops, corn shortage - prices rise.   Also the weather in South American corn producing countries affects the market prices and speculating traders.

Still can't figure out other than we have the bleeding green party in the Whitehouse - why we can't tap our own reserves and use the revenues to pay down the debt, stabilizing our prices and then we can use our food resources to get back the money squeezed out of the country over the past 40 years - since OPEC ran over Jimmy Carter.   

Really? Blaming Jimmy Carter? LMAO!!

[livewire]

No profit for farmers means no farms...no food

Exactly, Griff.

U.S. Farmers are still able to produce enough grain to supply all of our own needs, and have some left over to export. But our carryover grains are decreasing each and every year (even with yields increasing), as the world population increases and our exports increase, with world demand for all grains skyrocketing.

There will come a time, in the not-too-distant future, when the world will not be able to produce enough grain to meet the demand.  Take a guess what food prices will do then.  $10.00 a pound for hamburger?  $5.00 for a gallon of milk? 

Sorry, Sidecar, prices of corn and soybeans rebounded today, BIG time, almost erasing the losses of yesterday.     The market correction happened quicker than I thought.

[The Chicken]

Really? Blaming Jimmy Carter? LMAO!!

Especially since it started while Ford was President.. he inherited the energy crisis and continued to the policy of the previous administration... like our Ally the Shah of Iran who was  the only country willing to sell us oil..


I would be rolling around the floor laughing except its not funny... these threads have been train wrecks of infor.. or shall I say misinformation..

So before rewriting history... I beg people to study and learn history, especially if you are going to make a misinformed statement..

The majority of the lemmings can't tell the difference in what is true and what is not true...

[Professor H]

Especially since it started while Ford was President.. he inherited the energy crisis and continued to the policy of the previous administration... like our Ally the Shah of Iran who was  the only country willing to sell us oil..


I would be rolling around the floor laughing except its not funny... these threads have been train wrecks of infor.. or shall I say misinformation..

So before rewriting history... I beg people to study and learn history, especially if you are going to make a misinformed statement..

The majority of the lemmings can't tell the difference in what is true and what is not true...

I was just a pup - so I missed the year -  1973 
Actually you missed it as well, as it occurred under Nixon.  So don't come off so high n mighty.

Shortly after he authorized the Alaska Pipeline.  Something pro-active. 

We are supposed to hold reserves greater than the middle east - and some feel we should just ignore it instead of developing it.   

Initially it may cost more - but in the long run it would release our dependence for years.   We could stabilize our oil supply, hold greater controls on pricing and once up and running it would make sense to earmark some of the revenues to new technologies, and paying down the debt. 

But we can sit on it - and use the excuse we need to use electric sources instead - that cost more and do less.

[Baby Hitler]

I was just a pup - so I missed the year -  1973 
Actually you missed it as well, as it occurred under Nixon.  So don't come off so high n mighty.

Shortly after he authorized the Alaska Pipeline.  Something pro-active. 

We are supposed to hold reserves greater than the middle east - and some feel we should just ignore it instead of developing it.   

Initially it may cost more - but in the long run it would release our dependence for years.   We could stabilize our oil supply, hold greater controls on pricing and once up and running it would make sense to earmark some of the revenues to new technologies, and paying down the debt. 

But we can sit on it - and use the excuse we need to use electric sources instead - that cost more and do less.

It's oil shale, and they are trying to develop it. It's not as easy as you'd think.