The Economy

[DCColegrove]

Okay...

This is kicking my ass...

I have 4 kids ages 10 years to 3 months (2 in diapers).

I have watched the price of everything I need to do business double and then triple over the past six or eight months. Same thing with all the things necessary to life, and It now costs $50 to fill the tank of my daily driver.

:hitler: So Who's ass do we need to kick to straiten this shit out?

[e30love]

The middle east and then our gov

[blunttech]

i normally dont think too much about the cost of shit. thats not to say i dont shop around to get the best deal on stuff but in the last 2 months i seriously think before driving and how i can combine trips and save miles. i really feel bad for families who are just barely making it and have to drop 60 bucks in their tank once or twice a week. we need to drill in ANWR and fuck all the environmentalists

[DCColegrove]

I've always done pretty well myself never worried about it until now...

I'm actually tanking out for the first time ever...

Bills late, shit like that.

[mrsleeve]

Right now we dont need too much more crude. Crude supplies are up the distiled supply is kinda low (think gas and diesel) More refineries running at 100% instead of 70% would help or just building a few more would not hurt. Also we are using less fuel, demand is down something like 6% form a year ago.

The bigest problem is the speculation of all the comidies traders they ran the pric of oil up 3 bucks yesterday alone closed a 125.96 a barrel. If some one puts the towel on too tight in a oil producing county they run amuck with the speculation.

The you have the price of every thing else going up because diesel is 4.50+ a gallon and everything we use it brought to us by truck. Food is being driven up by the E85 craze as farmers swap over to corn production for E85 because it pay better, who could blame them. That in turn shortens livestock feed supplies driving that up, which in turn drives up any meat. Also every one swapping to corn means the other main crops are not being raised in the quanties they were before so that leaves them is somewhat short supply. Then you have the cost of fuel again on the farmer, and the truckers that bring it all to your local store.

be ready to grab your ass is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better

edit: I have heard reports of diesel jumping more than .20 cents yesterday to as much as 4.87 in places.

[blunttech]

Right now we dont need too much more crude. Crude supplies are up the distiled supply is kinda low (think gas and diesel) More refineries running at 100% instead of 70% would help or just building a few more would not hurt. Also we are using less fuel, demand is down something like 6% form a year ago.

The bigest problem is the speculation of all the comidies traders they ran the pric of oil up 3 bucks yesterday alone closed a 125.96 a barrel. If some one puts the towel on too tight in a oil producing county they run amuck with the speculation.

The you have the price of every thing else going up because diesel is 4.50+ a gallon and everything we use it brought to us by truck. Food is being driven up by the E85 craze as farmers swap over to corn production for E85 because it pay better, who could blame them. That in turn shortens livestock feed supplies driving that up, which in turn drives up any meat. Also every one swapping to corn means the other main crops are not being raised in the quanties they were before so that leaves them is somewhat short supply. Then you have the cost of fuel again on the farmer, and the truckers that bring it all to your local store.

be ready to grab your ass is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better

edit: I have heard reports of diesel jumping more than .20 cents yesterday to as much as 4.87 in places.

we dont need much more crude???? so using our own resources is not a good idea in your mind? i guess i dont understand being tied to someone elses oil when we have our own.

[Massive Lee]

the US currency has lost 1/4 its value in the past 2 years. Expect all imported goods to cost proportionally more. Also, the US currency used to be a safe refuge for speculators. Now that it is worth nothing, speculators are investing in oil, gold, and grain (rice, corn and wheat). Look what's currently happening. All prices are rising due to speculators. Consummers are paying rising prices so that speculators make money.

[Tree18is]

just think, there is no tomorrow, and money wont mean anything.

[Money$hit]

We are currently in a situation of stagflation, that is, we are experiencing simultaneous inflation and recession.

To squelch the recession, the Fed tries to increase GDP by pumping money into the economy, (I.E. stimulus plan money, rate cuts, etc). Since GDP = Consumer expenditures + Investment + Government expenditures + net exports, any way the government can increase any one of these components, they will try. They have clearly taken a dead aim at consumer expenditures with the stimulus plan, considering this component makes up approx. 70% of GDP.

However, with actions such as these, the Fed prints more money. By printing more money, you cause inflation to increase. As defined by the quantity theory of money, changes in inflation rate are directly correlated to changes in money supply. Print more money, have more inflation. Print less money, inflation decreases.

In a situation of stagflation, a govt must weigh its options. Solve the issue of recession and make inflation worse, or solve inflation and make the recession worse. Its a difficult trade off, but by using the AD/AS model, it is easy to see why goods are becoming more expensive and the dollar is taking a major shit versus other currencies. The Fed has printed so much money that inflation has increased, while I feel that recession fears are subsiding.

[DCColegrove]

I think we can all somewhat agree on what's happening.

The Dollar's devalued because they just keep printing more to cover past debt.

Buying cheap shit from China is finally catching up.

The big guys rake whatever they can off the top by trading options etc.

Me, I'm tough I can live in my car...

But it's hurting my kids now.

So...

I "wana" kick Some Ass...

So...Who Gets the Grade "A" Ass Kicking?

[Il Duce]

The middle east and then our gov

Does anyone else see how fucking backwards this is?

[Money$hit]

I think we can all somewhat agree on what's happening.

The Dollar's devalued because they just keep printing more to cover past debt.

Buying cheap shit from China is finally catching up.

The big guys rake whatever they can off the top by trading options etc.

Me, I'm tough I can live in my car...

But it's hurting my kids now.

So...

I "wana" kick Some Ass...

So...Who Gets the Grade "A" Ass Kicking?

Long explanation, but I dont think buying up cheap shit from China has caused the situation we are in. Placing trade restrictions/tariffs has a long term net effect of zero. It doesnt hurt or benefit a country. It is another drawn out explanation based on models, empirical evidence, etc.

[mongule]

Econ student?-->moneyshift

[mtechnik]

Economics is just screwing us all over. Sorry for the real basic jabber but it's like DAMN IT lately.

I for one am wishing that the € would just crash. Now over here in Europe were stuck with the excuse that the oil market is in dollars..that''s the reason for the prices still remaing high over there too...

Everything's been a reason for oil prices to edge up further and further. Katrina, Nigeria strikes etc etc etc.

Last week it took €76 to fill my tank up from a little above empty. Today the price at Esso was 1.52 for RON 95 and 1.62 for RON 98.

[CorvallisBMW]

... we need to drill in ANWR ...

The problem is that even under the most optimistic estimates, it would still take 8 years for that oil to reach the market. It's not as easy as opening up something for drilling, and the next day it's pumping crude into the market. By the oil company's own estimates, it would take 8-10 years to build all the drills, platforms, pipelines, ports, etc just to get it to refineries.

I think we will have to drill there as oil supplies around the world dwindle, but it wouldn't do anything to solve our current problems.