U.S. Oil Hits $50 on Nigeria Supply Fears

[arcos]

U.S. Oil Hits $50 on Nigeria Supply Fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices reached a record $50 a barrel on Monday as Nigeria emerged as the latest focus for worries about supply in an already tight worldwide energy market.


The U.S. light crude front month contract rose a further 36 cents a barrel in after-hours electronic trading to hit $50, its loftiest level in the 21 years of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It later retreated to trade at $49.80.


In real terms, stripping out the impact of inflation, oil prices are now near levels hit during the Arab oil embargo of 1973-4, though much lower than the record highs following the 1979 Iranian revolution.

<snip>

The lack of a supply cushion has reinforced the view among some investors that oil at $50 is not overpriced, despite a 50 percent jump in crude prices since the start of the year.

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040927/bs_nm/markets_oil_dc

[jackofhearts]

1. GOOD...

At this point anything that begins to shake the foundations of this sick nation is OK by me. Let it go to $100 a barrel...watch the corporate world collapse right before our eyes. Only something like that would bring the corporate fascists down.

[happynewyear]

2. yep

This is kicking the facist pigs in what balls they might have. $100 is right around the corner ..............

:kick:

[Ravenseye]

10. Please.

If you think this will do anything but hurt the poor and the middle class, then you're insane. The rich people will stay rich, they can afford the price of milk to double. Regular people can't. They'll muddle through it, they'll pass more tax cuts for the rich, while people start living in ramshackle villages made of corrugated tin.

Please. Lets let the price of Oil go higher.

[jackofhearts]

12. This is happening right now ravenseye...

while I agree with your point I say this is already in motion. Only something catastrophic will change the course the corporo-fascists are leading us down. I would point out tax cuts that have been implemented and more to come if the fascists stay in power. I submit lower standards of education under the guise of 'no child left behind' as an effort to dumb down the populace. The lower and middle class can sit by and wait until the oppression is so severe that revolution is the only answer or we can hope for some "pearl harbor like event" to mobilize us and shake the power structure.

The backlash of the rich ruling over the middle and lower class is coming. It is just a matter of time.

[Ravenseye]

22. Welcome to Plutocracy

I disagree with calling them fascists, at this point. Perhaps one day. Right now we live in what is closer to a Plutocracy than a Democracy. The democratic aspect is in shambles and getting worse. The powerfull and rich control this nation.

I agree with you saying that the tax cuts are to shore up the support of their fellow Plutocrats. The lower standards for education to keep the people down.

I just don't agree that the people will rise up anytime soon. They'll struggle to buy basic groceries. The smaller farmers and companies will go under solidifying control in the giant megacorporations who can afford to lose money in certain sectors to gain market share.

I think we can only hope for some type of 'event' which will wake enough americans up before it's too late. The Plutocrats only need 60 seats in the Senate before they really start to destroy this country as we know it.

[snowFLAKE]

18. Do you advocate Destroying the Planet

For the sake of the poor?

Really, a slightly more thoughtful, sophisticated analysis suggests that the poor predominantly suffer the effects of our fossil fuel economy.

[Ravenseye]

21. I'm saying...

...that I don't have confidence that 'the people' will rise up if pushed further down.

Look at the great depression. The rich stayed rich, sure some lost everything, but most just rode it out, while everyone else struggled miserably.

I think that there are plenty of powerfull rich people in this country who would like nothing better than to have the United States become more similar to central america. A cluster of the rich in some of the cities who can do whatever they want, pay for the best medical care, schools, send their kids abroad to schools. Meanwhile 95% of the population lives in poverty and struggles, those on the bottom rung live in shanty towns with no running water or medical care.

I responded to a post where they advocated the rising prices as a way to take the rich down a peg and restore sanity to this country. I just don't think that'll happen if we impoverish the majority of our fellow citizens.

[llmart]

14. I agree with you somewhat...

though I think that if oil hits $100 the best thing that would come from it would be that the average joe blow in America would be forced to reduce consumption. It seems to me that that is the only way to wake up the complacent people in this country who think driving these humongous SUV's and gas guzzlers is a god-given right, and that somehow they are a "necessity." Our public has ignored the call by conservationists and environmentalists for years, ridiculing anyone who proposes smart solutions to our oil dependency (the tagline "tree huggers" comes to mind) such as more mass transit or more fuel efficient vehicles. I live in Detroit, for God's sake, and if you want to see how blind we are to this problem, come check out the wonderful public transportation system we have here (none). The auto industry fights even a proposal to raise fuel efficiency by a little bit.

[Carolab]

3. HERE COMES THE RECESSION

Cash in your stocks, get your cash in a safe place, and hold on for your life.

[concord]

7. What's a safe place?

Seriously ...

Cash in a mattress, in a savings acct, in savings bonds, what?

[0007]

15. Your mattress can be stolen or lost by fire

A tin can in the ground is the best.

Support Kerry and the Democratic society by volunteering and donating if you can!!

May be your last chance before the junior's of the world wreck your life.

[gristy]

4. Keep your eye on the price of gas

There are probably forces which will endeavor to hold it down for the next 6 weeks. I was surprised to find regular at $1.90 on the Mass Turnpike today.

[amazona]

6. chimpy is finally going to open the strategic reserve

....and not a moment too soon. This is why you are able to get (slightly) cheaper gas even though we weren't able to drill in the Gulf of Mexico due to Ivan.

For those who think it is somehow "good" that oil go to $50 or even $100 a barrel, keep in mind at those prices you provide an economic incentive to destroy our California coastline, many of our western mountain BLM areas, and our Alaskan wildlife reserves.

Cheap gas means it isn't worth drilling where it is a hassle. If you want to destroy what little is left of our wild places in the U.S. by all means cheer on the rising price of oil.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. While I share your interest in preserving the environment,

oil prices are gonna go up, whether it's this year or next or 3 years from now. There's this little situation called "Peak Oil," ya know. I'm not at all overjoyed by the prospect of $100 oil--I don't have a hydrogen fuel cell car out in the garage, and I have to drive a lot for my work, so I just hope we have a sane administration in place when the hard choices come.

[aneerkoinos]

11. "Hard choices"

were made in 70s and 80s. Only mortally serious choices left - literally - and time is running out NOW!.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. The WRONG choices were made back then,

starting with the choice of Raygun in 1980. Carter would have had us on an alternative-energy path. For me, Raygun's taking the solar panels off the White House was a moment of decisive symbolism. The wrong symbol, the wrong decision.

[aneerkoinos]

23. Exactly

That's what I had in mind.

[lovuian]

5. When are Americans going to Wake up and see they are

being screwed by the Republicans

[aneerkoinos]

8. Or collectively jerking off

instead of doing something usefull about their oil addiction in the face of Peak Oil?

[0007]

16. When one can find an antidote for the cool aid that has been

drunk by the ignorant that aren't quite dead.

34% are already dead and have died with the golden figurine of junior placed in there coffin.

[megatherium]

17. The American people are being screwed by themselves.

Every other car on the road is a truck. Republicans did not make everyone go out and buy a big SUV. We use far too much petroleum.

[mrbill]

13. the price of go juice in my little town responded immediately......

from 168.9 to 186.9 overnight.

[Jack Rabbit]

19. It looks like 'terrorists' knew where to hit the Bushies where it hurts

The word terrorists is used advisedly here since they have hit a genuine (and, IMHO, perfectly legitimate) target: the world oil supply.

The issue here is distribution of the world's wealth. The neoliberal/neoconservative model would do little to alleviate the wide gap between rich and poor and may even aggravate the problem by institutionalizing it. Where people in developing countries have had a choice, they have rejected this model and opted for populist leaders like Chávez and Lula. The Bush junta, by invading Iraq, have shown they will resort to brute force in order to impose this model on the unwilling masses.

There is no reason why a developing nation's resources should be used to benefit the wealthy in the global north at the expense of the poor in the global south. If the masses in the global have no other recourse than to take up arms to defend their right to have their resources used for their benefit, so be it.