High Oil Prices?

Why are oil prices shooting through the roof lately?  Well, it seems like TV pundits blame everything except the single institution that has the largest influence on what oil is traded at, and that is the Federal Reserve.  Some things might cause brief spikes in the price of oil, like shortages in supply, but the main cause for gas at the pump getting more expensive over time is the Federal Reserve. The real frustrating thing is that TV pundits seem not to have a clue and have not mentioned monetary policy at all.  Left or Right, the mainstream media seems totally clueless.  Bill Orielly had a discussion with Lou Dobbs about oil prices and not only did the two not mention the FED once but, they don’t seem to understand basic economics either.  The conversation went something like Dobbs telling O’Rielly that the oil refined in the United States is being sent overseas.  Well, this should not be surprising considering that oil refining is a highly complex process that third world countries often do not have the industry to refine themselves.  Therefore many countries ship their crude here and when it is refined it is shipped back overseas.  This is not some kind of complex plot where oil companies are taking advantage of American customers.They are simply selling refined oil on the world market at it’s commodity price.  O’Rielly seems to think that there is some kind of price fixing going on because gas is at such a similar price between different gas stations.  This is pretty easy to understand when you realize that oil and gas are not consumer goods like tennis shoes. They are instead commodities like beef, gold, copper, and many other industrial products.  The margins are very small when looking at any commodity because commodities by definition are homogenous, unlike two pairs of shoes that are likely very different.  If you went around town trying to buy gold or silver bullion at different coin shops, you would notice that the prices are pretty similar if not almost exactly the same.  Same is true for industrial metals like copper, the going rate is the going rate.  Additionally, oil, gas, gold, and copper are in a world market, the price of each is nearly uniform around the world, gold costs the same in Shanghai as it does in New York.  Oil, before taxes, has a very similar cost as well.  The real variable here is the dollar. When the dollar loses value, the price of oil goes up.  If you want someone to blame for high gas prices look no further than the Federal Reserve.

 

Some people might say that the government owning so much land and preventing drilling is pushing the price of oil up.  This might be true to some extent, and I would agree that opening up more land for oil exploration would be a good idea but, this does not explain how a gallon of gas used to cost a dime and will now likely be five dollars by summer.  The reason that gas is so high this year should be put into consideration of what the Federal Reserve’s actions have been over the last four years.  The FED has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy but, this has been mostly absorbed by the big banks where they have kept the money preventing it from being pushed into the economy.  We are begging to see the affects of this money as it enters the economy, for food and many other commodities have been inflated up 10% in 2011.  The drive up in the stock market to 13,000 has also been a result of inflation because Wall Street is always one of the first in line for newly printed money.  We are finally starting to feel the beginning of the price inflation that comes about when the Fed doubles the monetary base.  If the economy shoots up to full employment we might even see ten dollar gas but, to be honest we truly do not know because monetary inflation affects different sectors of the economy in different degrees.  Oil, though, is one commodity that is almost always affected by monetary inflation (so is food for that matter, interesting how neither is included in the official CPI).  When oil starts going up in price for long periods of time, it is likely that we will see inflation in other areas as well.

 

In conclusion:

 

The Federal Rerserve is the most to blame for oil prices going through the roof.  Someday the media might catch on to this too but, don’t hold your breath, they have been blaming everything else for 50 years.

4,471 thoughts on “High Oil Prices?

  1. Hi! I just want to offer you a huge thumbs up for
    the excellent information you’ve got right here on this
    post. I am returning to your website for more soon.

  2. Howdy! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me
    of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this.
    I will forward this page to him. Fairly certain he will
    have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!

  3. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.

    It will always be exciting to read content from other writers and use a little something from other websites.

  4. Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about
    this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
    I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message
    home a bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog.
    A fantastic read. I will definitely be back.

  5. Thanks for another wonderful article. The place else could anybody get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I’m at the search for such info.

  6. Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it,
    you are a great author. I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back
    someday. I want to encourage one to continue your great posts,
    have a nice morning!

  7. Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished
    to say that I’ve really loved surfing around your weblog posts.
    In any case I will be subscribing in your rss feed and I
    hope you write once more very soon!

  8. Hi there! This post could not be written any better!
    Looking at this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He always kept preaching about this. I’ll send this information to him.
    Fairly certain he’ll have a good read. Thank you for
    sharing!

  9. Hey there! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.
    Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure
    things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to begin.
    Do you have any ideas or suggestions? With thanks

  10. Hello everyone, it’s my first pay a visit at this web site, and piece of writing is genuinely fruitful designed for me, keep up posting these types of content.

  11. It is in reality a great and useful piece of information. I am satisfied that you shared
    this useful info with us. Please keep us
    informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

  12. Hey there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering
    which blog platform are you using for this site?

    I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with
    hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform.
    I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  13. Howdy would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using?
    I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a tough time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
    The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m
    looking for something completely unique.
    P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

  14. Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
    Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how
    can we communicate?

  15. Wߋah! I’m really Ԁigging the templаte/theme of this blog.
    It’s simple, yet effectіve. A lot of times it’s challenging to
    get tat “perfect balance” between user friendliness and
    visual aρpeɑl. I must sayy that you’ve done a superb job ѡith this.
    Additionally, the blog loads very fast for me on Internet explorer.

    Excellent Blog!

  16. Every weekend i used to pay a quick visit this web page, for the reason that i wish for enjoyment, for the reason that this this site conations
    genuinely nice funny data too.

  17. Thank you, I’ve just been searching for information about this subject for a long time and yours is the
    best I’ve came upon till now. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you sure in regards to
    the source?

  18. excellent submit, ver informative. I pknder why thee oposite spescialists of thks
    setor don’t realize this. Youu should clntinue your writing.
    I’m confident,you have a great readers’ base already!

  19. I am not sure where you are getting your information, however good topic.
    I needs to spend some time learning more or working out more.
    Thanks for wonderful information I used to be searching for
    this info for my mission.

  20. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an incredibly long comment
    but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr…
    well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say excellent blog!

  21. My programmer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
    I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses.
    But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type
    on various websites for about a year and am nervous
    about switching to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it?
    Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

  22. Outstanding post however , I was wondering if you
    could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little
    bit further. Kudos!

  23. Hi there! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site
    mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when viewing from my apple
    iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to correct
    this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share.
    Cheers!

  24. Tһanks for the good wrіteup. It in trᥙth used to bbe a
    leisure account it. Glance complex to more brought agreeable from you!
    However, how could we keep in touch?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *