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Ruins
One of the interesting bits of Peak Oil is the end of unlimited rebuilds in disaster areas. When we were a rich nation, we'd rebuild every house on the Atlantic Coast or down in Florida after a hurricane swept through and ruined the place. Insurance money just kept paying out. We could afford it. The govt paid off the insurance companies and the ( Read more... ) -
Watch Out For The Crazies
Today XKCD had a lovely little cartoon about a forum for perpetual motion machines, still going after 8 years. They're a wonderfully insane subject that crazy people inevitably drift into. Not being interested in them is often a sign of sanity, if you ever wondered about your own mental health. Those places also attract con men and I think that's ( Read more... ) -
Oil Down $3.50/bbl on Spain Fears, DOW down 100.
That's right, Spain. Spain owes something like $1.4 Trillion in derivatives and the bank bailout is utterly capable of dropping the entire EU into decades of poverty. Not weeks, months or years. Decades. It seems that the bad ideas of inflating ARM mortgages that were so popular in California a decade ago really took off for British tourists ( Read more... ) -
Bad Predictions
Six or seven years ago, most of us were pretty active on this Community following the rise in oil prices. When the price swiftly rose to $147/bbl and gasoline was $4.50/gal, Peak Oil was mainstream news and the sky was the limit. I'm just as guilty as everyone else here proclaiming rationing and panic hoarding of fuel and food and we devolved ( Read more... ) -
Threats of Violence in Middle East Drives Oil to $92/bbl.
Israeli tourists in Bulgaria were killed by alleged Iranian backed Hezbollah, resulting in more threatening speeches by Israeli PM Netanyahu. Oil rose to $92/bbl, up nearly $3. OPEC quietly cheers since they have a $95/bbl target and the higher price helps Iran pay for nuclear weapons power. Meanwhile, Greece, Japan, and several other countries are ( Read more... ) -
Oil Rises $7.27/bbl to $85/bbl
DOW was also up 277 points to 12,880. Big day for trading, though the news that sparked it? An empty EU agreement based on Optimism. Oil going up makes sense thanks to a workmen's strike in Norway and the ban on Iranian oil (of which there are numerous exceptions). Any bets as to whether the DOW falls on Monday after some thoughts on rational ( Read more... ) -
Oil to $84 on OPEC cuts
OPEC has cut production so the price of oil is up and the stock market is too, though it mostly seems to be inflation at work rather than actual improvement in jobs or the world economy. That the Greeks narrowly rejected (narrowly) dumping the Euro has been taken very optimistically by investors. Eventually they'll realize that the Greeks still owe ( Read more... ) -
Don't Panic??
Oil is down $3.30/bbl to $83.23. The DJIA is down 274 points which is quite a few. This is the sort of crash you expect from full disaster, the likes of which we have with the end of the EU. Of course, if it drops another 1000 points to 10,000-some then I'd say its really crashed. This is more like a small adjustment. It is really interesting to ( Read more... ) -
Brent Crude Falls $3.74 to $103.54/bbl
Brent crude fell on "surpluses" but mostly due to EU economic collapse and bank runs prompting futures to drop. Futures markets for crude are essentially betting that currency messes associated with Southern Europe dropping the Euro and Defaulting their debts will greatly reduce demand for crude oil, or rather the ability to pay for crude oil ( Read more... )
