At what point will it be cheaper to fill the wings with cheap vodka instead of jet A?

BINGO! This would be a huge help.

ok - why shouldn't I be able to loan money to a guy so that he can buy oil futures, sex toys, online degrees, or an over-priced abode? why is it any of Congress's business?

this is America - supposedly a free country. passing laws prohibiting trade agreements which two parties enter into voluntarily for mutual benefits is flat out UN-American. if someone wants to loan the $$$ (at his own risk!) to someone else to speculate in oil futures, so be it. if they're wrong, they'll both get what's coming to them... in the long run, they don't injure anyone else - they just ensure the markets remain liquid.

So what happens when oil prices plummet, and the banks come calling for those loans. I seem to remember learning about a similiar situation leading to the great depression. Just replace commodities with stock.

Because the taxpayers foot the bill when the boom bust. When the Fed pumps liquidity into the market, hundreds of billions of dollars, or say underwrites Bear Stearns for $30 billion and takes over the risk, WE PAY for the market excesses. Who paid for Enron, World Com, Savings & Loan Bailout? The answer; the working class and taxpayers.

Noticed when Exxon reported quarterly that production was down 5.6%. Thats a lot of gallons. Wonder why???

Because the new-found greed of the "wannabe Robert Kiyosaki-Rich Dad, Poor Dad types" is driving prices of almost everything through the roof. First it was stocks, then real estate, now it's gold and oil, what's next? Food and Water?

Those who understand the market get in first and make all the money at the beginning, then they write books about it and start websites to make even more money off of the suckers who'll follow. Next, the followers catch on and send the price of everything soaring, but they usually end up working harder at not having to work than anybody else, waste tons of time and money, and assume way too much risk. Finally all the rest of the wannabes buy in but the prices are so over-inflated that the market can't keep up with the greed, so it collapses.

If you become an investor because of all the buzz you hear about people getting rich, you're already too late. If you decide to invest because of an infomercial or website you've seen, you're already too late. If you're going to invest, do it responsibly, expect steady, trackable growth, be prepared for some losses, and QUIT TRYING TO GET RICH QUICK. You're only screwing yourselves and pi$$ing off everybody else with your greed.

Oil prices are high because we haven't learned to consume less; therefore, the people speculating saying that oil is at a sound price are correct. Until we stop using less, they'll continue to win and we will lose.

-Fatty

Hey Folks, Capitalism is great and all but remember, the the market is not infallible so we cannot put everything in the hands of the market. Some regulation is necessary. I don't claim to know to what extent but I do know that the market is far from a perfectly well oiled machine.


As for the reason for high oil prices; In addition to the high demand in China and India, given the slow economy and the weak US dollar, oil is in demand as an investment.

Are you serious with that statement? Sit down and think how much the price of everything around you has gone up over the last 12-18 months. I did not say you could not loan someone money to invest in oil. I simply said that the investor should be required to have more "skin in the game" than a lousy 10%. People act far more rationally when their own money is involved. We have seen the same mentality at work with the dot com crash, and the housing bubble. People will get in over their heads with the hopes of striking it rich. I can't stand big government, but every law governing markets was put in place after somebody got screwed. Oil is a national security concern, nothing else has such a wide ranging effect on our economy and daily lives.

When you say they'll get what's coming to them if they're wrong, who do you think ultimately foots the bill every time markets loose touch with fundamentals?