Chris92

Not to mention that when oil goes down the rest of the market goes UP. while commodities will be effected so will everything else, but in a positive way. This needs to change immediately or we are heading quickly to a depression. The avg. person is quickly getting to the point where the cost of driving to work is gaining on the money you make at work. If it keeps going up many wont be able to even get to work. We need to end speculation, increase production, and even MORE importantly we need to invest HEAVILY on finding alternatives. We need to be weening ourselves off of our reliance on oil to protect ourselves in the future.

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XJT Alumni 3/05-2/08
NWA/DAL A319/320

dom

You have to get passed the rich and poor idea. Rich people do not care about the economy or the price of oil. I am not saying save them, financially, they are already saved. If you think a loss in your 401K will not be a big deal, then you need to take a class on economics. It not just your money they have, it is people who are older and on the verge of retirement. They lose money, they do not retire, they do not spend, they do not TRAVEL(very important to you right), they collect as much Social Security they can (not even going to get into that), they stop spending period. This is not only true of older generations preparing for retirement, but it is true of younger people trying to plan a life. You may be young, as am I, and can recover from a lose in a retirement plan, but a lot more people can not. Your greed for cheap gas is blinding you to a whole lot of other things that can go wrong and keep us right in this sh!tty envirnoment. Do I want the rich to get rich off the poor.....F no, do I want them to lose the money we give them to invest, F no. Think about your father or mother, are they retired, could they if they wanted to today, if there investments are hurt by the economy could they still retire. If no to any of these, will they still spend money if they lose it!

dom

Look what Brazil did with sugar. They did in 3 years, what our government said will take 20-30. Our country has lost what made us the strongest, will.

"In WWII it took us 4 and a half years years to defeat Nazi Germany, Facist Italy, and Imperial Japan. It took 28 years for Atlanta International Airport to build a third runway." Newt Gingrich.

Do not like what he has to always say, but I thought this really shows how much we as Americans can get done today.(sarcasm)

Dumptruck

Just out of curiosity DOM but what do you think would have the worst effect on our economy, and us? Oil suddenly dropping and our 401k going down, or United, USAir, American, Frontier, etc going out of business or costing the government (aka us) billions to subsidize? I personally would rather see my 401k go down a bit than to wind up on the street not contributing to it at all. And as was pointed out on another post, competing with all those higher time people without jobs. I'll take my chances with a sudden drop in oil.

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www.fairtax.org

Ready.Set.Jet

FYI, the president doesn't make laws. Only congress can make laws. I thought I'd fill you in so you don't embarrass yourself further by your lack of knowledge concerning our government and gratuitous Clinton bashing.


also....the republicans were in charge of congress during Clinton's presidency.

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www.xjet.com

dom

Do not get me wrong, I want to see a drop in the price of oil, just not overnight. I agree that I would rather take a hit on my 401K than be in an unemployment line. My concern is not just about me though. It is about the economy as a whole. How many people are getting ready to retire in the next year. How many baby boomers are ready to clock out for the last time. Most of them are ready to do so because of what is in their retirement. Unless you play the market yourself, and do your own investing, then you probably have your retirement tied up with some investment company. They are doing their best to make money for you and themselves. They play the market as it is today. If oil were to drop overnight, many people would suffer because their investments are tied up in it. Maybe I am wrong, and the sell off would not hurt to much, but it does concern me. When people lose money, they do not spend. If they do not spend, the dollar does not improve and we are right back to were we started. Do not get me wrong the price of oil is BS. I remember the price of oil went up drastically after the hurricane's of 05. The question I want to ask is why did it never come down after the recovery was over. We have no major supply disruption since, and demand has gone down as of late due to price. Obviously, there is something fishy going on. The problem I see, is investers rallied around speculation rather than numbers. That mistake could cost our economy.

rjacobs

I think the number that was brought up at the congressional hearings yesterday for people who had 401k's or IRA's(forget the exact term) that had invested in oil futures was something along the lines of $240 billion dollars and the guy wanted to reduce that and cap it at like $5 billion. He then went on to say that reducing that number by $235 billion sounded like a lot and that it would hurt a lot of people, but the total number of dollars floating around in 401k's and other forms of IRA's(pensions, etc...) was something in the 40-50 trillion dollar range, so it really wasnt as big of a hit to the market and wouldnt affect as many people as congress thought it would.

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I used to be forced to "Officially" have no stance on gojet, now that no I longer work for "The Holding Company", my "Official" stance is, well you know what that is and if not let me know ill explain it.

Read your fuckin contract.

Whirlpool

I appreciate your concern about me embarrassing myself. I am well aware of how things are done. If you think that the current president has little effect on policy and/or law, than you need to go back to civics class...or maybe even take a civics class.

Carry on.

post911

Why should I sell the US a barrel of oil for $65 when in a few years I can sell it to China for $130 (or an equivalent in Yen)? Thus the futures "bubble". Due to futures, oil prices are more sensitive to the rate-of-change of demand than demand itself. This is not a problem since it should provide a dampening effect on the market and allow smooth transitions to alternate energy and create advanced opportunity to avoid a real shortage crisis. That's just the typical rational for a futures market. To have a burst there must be a bubble so we are assuming there is a bubble, something which may not be true but lets go with it anyway.

An oil burst could stem from at least one of the following two things. 1. rapidly strengthening US dollar - the strength of which may just depend on the amount of oil it buys so this could be a tautology we can ignore. If the dollar's worth is really a function of our debt, our GDP, and retail numbers as you stated, then the situation is complex enough that a rising dollar might be part of the reason for a burst. 2. A leveling off in worldwide demand, which should create a correction in the futures market.

"The last thing we want is for oil to crash."

Pay now or pay later. It doesn't matter what you want the market to do if you really believe in the market. Government intervention is not the answer since it indicates a failure of the market to regulate and that's what markets are supposed to do. How would the resulting loss of confidence help the market after the second application of something like the Bear Stearns deal? First housing, now oil? The best you can do as an individual investor is to put your money where your mouth is and buy something that will weather the coming storm. It's hard, e.g. gold might be another bubble, but the alternative is to beg the gubment to sell security for the price of your freedom.

It doesn't matter what we want.

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"It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: The conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.... it erases from everyone's conscience the distinction between justice and injustice" THE LAW, by Frederic Bastiat, Paris 1850.

excuseme

Exactly! Not a big gold fan myself but a very wealthy man ones showed me the first piece of gold he got - and he added: "a piece of gold would have bought a nice tailored suit three hundred years ago - the same goes today." It really doesn't matter what we want - for those who are not willing to look beyond the borders of the USA be ready to ride a roller coaster financially. We are part of a GLOBAL community, and as such will feel the rise and fall of economies all over, and no - military invasions probably is not the way to solve the demands for oil, iron, concrete, rice, coffee, etc.