Ashmaele posted:
Cawlin posted:
The situation is that the market is being gamed to the point that the laws of supply and demand no longer apply. This is the result of foolish trade and economic policy as well as corporate ownership of the government (i.e. fascism).
This point has been made here before, I think the last time I heard it was when gas was $4 a gallon a few years ago. Of course oil was $150 a barrel then as well.
I'm not really sure what to do about it, though. Someone suggested passing a law which required everyone who "bought" oil or gasoline on the market to physically take possession of it, which would essentially eliminate trade in those commodities. Is this a workable solution? I honestly do not know what to do about it.
I agree and understand that it is a complex situation. I also do not know enough about how to moderate the forces at work. I know that military intervention creates a worse situation in the long run, but this crap where companies deliberately halt or slow production when another area increases production, solely to keep artificially high prices in place or to elevate prices is bullsiht.
If this were some commodity like timber for example, well nobody would own ALL the timber so if one supplier wanted to choke the market, someone would go and cut some more timber elsewhere and that would be that. The issue is collusion amongst the oil companies in this regard as well as the intervention of the federal government on behalf of those companies and in the name of their interests, at the expense of the free market.
Honestly, as much as you guys hate to deal with PaulG, Aerlinthian, and BT's arguments, the fact of the matter is what's going on with the oil market is a result of the siht they rail against all the time.
In the rare earth thread, someone said that (I'm paraphrasing) "if there's profit in mining rare earth minerals, someone will do it", but the truth is that unless there is a MASSIVE profit, guaranteed by fascist policy to eradicate true market competition, nobody will do it. That's some of the same sort of thing going on here.
As a general statement about big business too, it's no longer about making "a profit", it's about having a guaranteed massive profit and protection from competition through legislation and government intervention. This is not a free market.
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