Light Crude settled at $128.50 a barrel today! Finding a way to make that number closer to $100 bucks will require all our prayers. Finding a way to make that number closer to $60 dollars….may require some modern day miracles.
Yesterday, So. Cal Edision and in fact all the utilities said that because they were having trouble with people paying their Utility bills….they were going to have to raise “All Energy Prices by up to 30% in the next few months!”. For those people utilizing Air Conditioning during these hot summer months; that number could soon choke the proverbial horse! Among all this jolly news the Food Markets and Manufacturers will be raising their prices by up 40 to 50%….due to the huge transportation and manufacturing cost…caused by the Oil Price Spikes!
The Cities and Counties are all complaining now. “Oh, all the Employee Pensions are killing us!”….”Oh, no one is using the Toll Roads!”….”Oh, now we can’t afford to fix the roads….because we aren’t getting enough cash in!”….”Oh, people are just leaving their homes…..and we are now finding “Foreclosure Cities!” around California. In the meantime, all those in charge want big raises themselves!
So, lets be direct here! If oil falls to $60 dollars a barrel…..why did it go up to $147? What happened to that huge demand? What happened to China, who was trading military arms to African despots in exchange for their oil production….i.e., Dafur! What happened to the banks that are closing faster than Starbucks coffee locations? What happened to the “New Rules” as Bill Maher would say….when it comes to buying oil and natural gas? What has happened to T. Boone Pickens – did he get religion? What has happened to all those lovely greed orientated Oil Speculators…where did they go?
The 19th Century philosopher John Stuart Mill…thought that “The greatest good for the greatest number!” was an important part of government and in social context…much the same as 18th Century philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau – who believed in a “Social Compact” for Society….which would insure that one person would not do harm to another person…..based on a set of mutally agreed upon rules of conduct. The Mafia, Politicians and the Government soon joined in on that belief with impunity and : “Honor amoung theives!” was soon the catch phrase! The Railroad Conspiracy along with Boss Tweed and the Oil Conspiracy soon took these very important concepts and twisted them into a reason for Theodore Roosevelt to run for President as both a Repulican and on the Bull Moose ticket! Teddy needed two more terms to really get the job done….darn it.
It seems a sad state of affairs…..when the Assessed Valuation of Property in Orange County is sustaining County Government….because people can’t get their property “reassessed reasonably”. People that bought in the last two years are being allowed to get reassessments. But, the people that bought their property five to 10 years ago…..are stuck. They get their tax rate raised every year by two to three percent…..even in these down times. What might be considered fair and equitable? What might the Supervisors of Orange County do to help these people who may have bought five years ago and have been scripping and saving to just barely make their monthly house payments. Perhaps, they got in on the sub-prime deal and now are really hurting. Perhaps people have borrowed on their homes and now what they owe is three times greater than the worth of the property.
We encourage all……to either rent or buy “Network” ….with William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duval and Faye Dunaway. This great film was produced in 1976, during those not so wonderful Jimmy Carter years. It was all about “Hyper-Stagflation”! This film tells us all …..the truth about what has happened to our country. The only difference between then and now is that the price of gasoline tripled to quadripled. The only other difference was that Interest rates went to almost 20%. The only difference was that Jimmy Carter told the American people that we would all have to suffer through some tough times and we would all have to sacrifice! This time, we at least got a “Stimulus Package”! This time the price of gas has only seemed to have doubled……so far!
Those in charge of the Oil and Energy Markets have failed….they need to be called to account. New Investment Rules, Capital Gains taxes raised only for oil and natural gas? Who knows? We do not need a shotgun approach this time…..this time we need a Blunderbust!
It’s a great buying opportunity here. Sorry I couldn’t resist(I’m a commodity broker). Buy the dips on all the physical commodities going forward.
Allan,
You should probably be posting more then. What do you know about what’s going on? Or would that be against the rules to talk about?
Ron,
Punt gun!
“Finding a way to make that number closer to $60 dollars….may require some modern day miracles.”
It will take determination by the American people.
We need to decide if progress in economic and social terms which incorporates scientifically based environmental stewardship is a goal we want to achieve.
*Carl,
“Punt Gun!”….what a blast from the past….or
even a Civil War Mortar with wrapped chainlink?
SCE should be denied any rate increases until such time as it stops runing the self-serving ads on T.V. telling us how they are watching out for us (the frequently run t.v. ad showing the maintenance truck rolling down a two lane highway through the desert as the announcer talks about how great they are)and prove that the practice they admitted to of management falsifying data so they could earn bonuses has been put to rest. SCE’s track record is one of bureaucratic inefficiency that makes government look like a smooth running machine. They have also been the employment center for timed out politicans that reach the end of their terms, another inefficiency and evidence of political game playing that is featherbedding at rate payer expense. SCE is the poster child for monopolistic inefficiency and worse. Does Reed Royalty still lobby for them as a hired gun? Is Jo Ellen Allen, who “works” for SCE but seems to spend most of her time on Republican politics, still the darling of the Orange County Forum and other high-roller events? All at rate payer expense? Talk about a top heavy organization (SCE that is). Can we get some efficiency here before jacking up our rates yet again? We need some accountability!