A number of years ago the comic book industry was severely hurt by a wave of speculative buying in which investors started buying lots of comic books on the idea that they were certain to increase in value. The Death of Superman event was one of the things driving this speculation.
But eventually the comic market bubble–or perhaps that should be thought balloon–popped, and the industry was gravely hurt.
There is some thought that the same thing is happening in the oil market right now, and that we might get another 1980s’style oil crash.
That would be bad news for people who work in the oil industry, and those collaterally dependent on oil revenue (like, for example, a large percentage of the population of Texas).
It would come as a relief for everybody else, though, if the surge of speculation passed and the price of oil was . . . well . . . cut in half.
MORE HERE.
Rozanski from Mile High is a good friend of mine in Colorado. I’ll have to compliment him on his good article. Thanks for refrencing it.
No doubt some of the recent price rise is due to speculation but supply and demand are the primary determinants of prices. Global demand for oil, food and raw materials is increasing as China and India industrialize and more of their huge populations aspire to the lifestyles and consumption levels of North Americans. href=”http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/commodities/28698/twelve_month.stm”>12 month oil price trend
I think there will probably be a temporary fall prices as speculators take their profits and bubbles burst, but the long-term trend seems to be for increasing demand and prices.
Some other comments via BBC
Opec has blamed the high prices on speculators, but in its latest monthly report the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that speculation is not the only cause and that high oil prices are here to stay.
The IEA also said that while a slowdown in the US may moderate the demand for oil from the West, it would be offset by increased demand from the rest of the world.
“Only a protracted and severe global recession would justify a sustained dip in oil prices” to below $60 a barrel, the report said.
[spam deleted]
Thank you for that non-sequitor, which would not be a valid confession nor would it bring one absolution.
Jimmy – This is the second blog today where I have seen this person leave comment spam to promote their site. Please delete his comment (and maybe ban him too.)
Just doing a calculation the other day on gasoline and electricity prices in dollars per therm made me wonder how long prices can stay where they are before reality kicks in.
I guess I’m not the only one.
I don’t think the price of oil represents a speculative boom. Oil is very much an international commodity. If you look at the price of oil in Euros, it hasn’t jumped nearly as much. If you look at the price of oil in gold, it hasn’t jumped at all.
More here.
and here (youtube).
I have the ability on occasion to listen to Larry Kudlow on radio interviews. He is of the opinion that oil prices reflect the weak dollar. It seems that President Bush has no interest in keeping the dollar strong.
Of course the government doesn’t have much to say one way or the other about what the value of the dollar is. Most of the fluctuation comes from market fluctuations, and manipulations by the Federal Reserve (which is a private bank of course). I am extremely nervous about the Federal Reserve outright buying mortgages with Federal Reserve notes. In my opinion they will “harvest” the mortgages that are the juiciest…namely those folks who are in a bad place but have enormous equity. In case you think that I don’t trust the Federal Reserve, well I think it is more dangerous and pernicious than the military build up in China, and I think that is pretty scary in itself.
Mr Akin,
Do you ever address matters of Catholicism anymore?
How about the murder of the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul?
Comic books??!!
Ut Prosim
eh, leave the guy alone. At least he’s posting a little again. One step at a time.
I gather Mr Hunter has not been a long term fan of Jimmy’s web site. I’m hoping for the return of Cthulthu as well as towel animals to this site, though certainly not to exclude pastoral advice and apologetics comments. He’s a human being like me, not just an apologist, though he’s comes across as pretty darn good at his chosen profession. And he has always talked about his long term interest in comic books.
Whatever the cause of his sparse presence in recent months, I pray he is well and will return fully in due course.
This blog is Jimmy’s avocation, not his vocation. The whiners who are complaining about Jimmy not doing what *they* want him to do make as much sense as they would if they were complaining about my not playing more golf.
Bill912, why are you posting here instead of playing golf??!
‘Cause I played the last 2 days and my back desperately needs a day of rest. (Getting older really stinks until one considers the alternative).
Dan,
You know God reads comic books in Heaven, right? 😉
To Bill912, obseqious defender of Jimmy,
Having suffered through 16 years of Catholic education, never ONCE having even heard the terms “mortal sin” or “state of grace”, having attended multiple parishes in search of solid preaching (and, one would hope. catechesis), I finally stumbled upon Jimmy, a man with immense talent for explaining the Church’s positions thoroughly, yet in layman’s terms and with charity. For me, Jimmy is the epitome of a Catholic apologist, and one with a particular gift for touching the heart – not just the head – with Catholic truth. If he is suffering with physical or mental illness, I would sympathize. Maybe he’s even lost his faith or is going through a “dark night”. Fine. But to see his fortnightly posts only address the secular or trivial is something I can’t understand. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. Lk 12:48.
Jimmy is, of course, a great apologist, a full time, professional apologist. However, this blog is not part of Jimmy’s job. It’s something he does in his free time. His not posting very often and the topics of his posts have nothing to do with whether he’s doing his duty as an apologist. I know others have posted similar things to what I’m saying, but it just doesn’t seem to be sinking in to some people what ‘free time’ means.
Whiner,
Maybe he’s even lost his faith or is going through a “dark night”. Fine. But to see his fortnightly posts only address the secular or trivial is something I can’t understand. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.
A couple of things:
First, this blog isn’t Jimmy’s chief forum for defending and explaining the Catholic Faith-his job with Catholic Answers is. Jimmy has been on the radio for years, and I haven’t heard anything which would suggest he has lost his faith. If that were the case, I seriously doubt he’d continue working for Catholic Answers.
Second, your quoting of scripture seems to suggest that if Jimmy doesn’t devote his blog chiefly to the apologetic work his does for his day job that he will punished by God. I can’t speak for the Almighty One, but I don’t think that God will pull out a check list of blog entries from JA.O, run down the list, and damn Jimmy because the majority of the blog isn’t about apologetics.
That’s just silly.
It would be a huge blessing.
As to the notion that it is supply and demand, not speculation that determines prices, one must remember that the map is not the territory. This country and world are not a ideologically-perfect computer model of Adam Smith.
It costs $5 a barrel to produce light, sweet crude in Saudi Arabia, and roughly $10 a barrel in the rest of OPEC.
We are paying roughly $110 a barrel.
That is not supply and demand. That is speculation – gambling on the stock market – which ought to be abolished.
The map is not the territory.
The dollar is collapsing rapidly. Certainly much blame can be put upon the Clinton administration’s policies, and the inaction on the part of the Bush administration to correct them.
With China and the Muslims owning most of the dollars, they are free to manipulate its price.
I would not be surprised to see a Communist invasion of Formosa and the Pescatores between the November election and the January inauguration.
Just as OPEC has announced that they won’t increase production until after the election.