A Few Things On Oil And Speculators

A number of weeks ago, the president visited Saudi Arabia. Upon his departure for the Saudi Kingdom, he told us that he was going to ask the Saudis to increase oil production because of the high oil prices. Essentially, the Saudis turned him down in a very public way. The interesting thing is, after more than seven years in office, this administration and this president haven't learned that these things aren't handled in public until the deal has already been done behind the scenes. The rebuff to Bush by the Saudis didn't hurt him the American public opinion polls, but that seems to be the likely result that he can't go much lower, as his poll numbers are and have been "cold enough" to make ice cubes; that is, they are well below the freezing temperature of 32. I would have to believe that it has hurt him and American foreign policy, as foreign governments take note of these kinds of things.

The Saudis have insisted that the supply of oil on the market is adequate and that speculators have been driving up the price, not the more common excuse... ah... I mean reason of supply and demand. Last week on CNBC (a cable business channel), there was an analyst on about the whole oil situation. I just forget the company he represents, but his basic comments were that oil prices are NOT being determined by supply and demand, and that there are full oil tankers "clogging" (his word) the waterways around the Middle East, because there are NO buyers for that oil. Now, maybe the guy is nuts, but I didn't hear anyone call his hand on that statement. As much as I hate to say it, this seems to jive with what the Saudis have been saying. The Saudis have been under tremendous pressure from a great number of countries, not just the United States, feeling the severe pinch of high oil and gasoline prices (if reports are to be believed, and common sense tells us that there must be a great deal of truth to the reports). Now, this past weekend, there was a big powwow in Saudi Arabia, but the result was much the same; that is, the Saudis blame the tremendous increase in oil prices (about double what they were last year) on speculators, and they promised to increase production by a scant 200,000 barrels a day, "IF" their customers ask for it.

To me, one of the major problems has been that the Bush Administration, the defenders of the wealthy and business interests, has refused to admit the speculators are part of the problem. This bunch NEVER met a millionaire, or better yet, a billionaire they didn't like; oh hell, I mean LOVE!!! Even some Republicans in Congress are screaming for the administration to get its head out of the sand and to take action to limit the damage being done by these greedy bastards, part of the "sit on their ass class." If I had my way, they'd all have to work for $8.00 an hour, with no medical insurance, and limited benefits. They be out digging ditches, paving roads, working in factories (what we have left, anyway!), running cash registers, stocking shelves, delivering furniture, waiting on tables, manning security desks, tending to sick patients, oh well, you get the point. Once they get a taste of what they've done to so many others, and what it means to REALLY have to work to earn other people BIG BUCKS, do you think it MIGHT sink in? Don't answer too quickly....