Crude oil - $90/barrel

[vlad]

$2.97 per gallon for regular gas here in NJ...

[deutschman]

i propose a group buy of baked beans and shot guns to fend off the hoards of starving people
lol
here in sf you can find gas for $4

[Sean5294]

the Apocalypse is near!! Im thinking about moving to Dubai!!

[Jand3rson]

Gas is still steadily going down here. We see about a $.02-.03 decrease every couple of days. The Shell down the street from me is at $3.51.

[Massive Lee]

In regard of the current crisis, banks don't have much liquidities, and it is more and more difficult for businesses to borrow money. This will affect the health of American industries, which will snowball into closed businesses and lost jobs. My understanding of the low cost of crude oil is that there's no more money to use for speculation (oil is a speculative convenience). Everyone sells what they have and keep them safely. And no more money to borrow to buy and speculate on anything. Everyone is now playing safe. I trully hope that the US will not print $700 billion, as it would devaluate the US dollar even more.

Lee

[uofom3]

Here in Canada, older peoples who have invested for their pension plans have seen their assets dive by at least 15%, while 30% has been seen. Let's all buy mattresses and hide our money there.

and then you lose 3-5% a year to inflation if your investment is in USD.

It's a pretty rough situation, in general.

Buy a bond for say 3-5%, you lose that each year with inflation so you're basically breaking even.

Buy a MF and somehow manage a 10% return. you lose 3.5 to fees and 3.5 to inflation so now you're looking at more like a 3% return. Better option, but now you're seeing real bond-like returns while taking stock market risk.

Buy an annuity, and enjoy all the fees that has. Plus, you don't even want to know what it will cost to get out before the penalty phase is over.

This is a problem that can be solved sooner than later. Lee brought up the price of oil to start this thread, so I'll use that as my example.

The price of oil, like everything else, is at it's fundamentals dictated by the laws of supply and demand. People demand more, or supply becomes short, and the price will rise accordingly. Good. But, at some point, people won't be able to bear the price any longer - and we found out that globally that price was set in at approximately $144.00 USD. People started buying less, conserving what they had, and making changes to use less in teh future; and prices dropped. Supply and demand.

This is not unlike the stock market. There is a LOT of cash out there in the hands of wealthy investors who have pulled out of the market or abandoned individual securities for the sake of moving into a "safer" investment given the current tone of the stock market. Their idea in pricipal is good, but they are driven by fear and not staying disciplined to a long term investing strategy. Those who made risky investments lost money, and that's the way it should be. It's part of the game.

Fixing this problem is not going to be simply throwing money at it through government, but rather at some point, stocks are going to become cheap enough where wealthy investors say "OK, that's cheap enough for me to buy that and even if it goes down a bit more I'll make money long term". Once that starts happening, a solid bottom will be reached and we'll start to rebuild. I don't personally think people like the idea of a DOW below 10k and will start to react when it gets down around 9-9.5k. There will be a bottom that the market won't tolerate, just like a ceiling that the market won't tolerate with the price of oil.

[damith]

Dubai is next to go down

the Apocalypse is near!! Im thinking about moving to Dubai!!

Please don't. Dubai is the next to go down. See how the oil consumption goes down and the amount of real estate they have built/ building funded by banks, connect the dots, u'll get the clear picture. Ripple effect is in acion.

[deutschman]

any one here watch fast lane daily? did you happen to here about Claus Ettensberger signature wheels going down? they are selling their rims at costco in southern california.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YwdW4ZdQ8

http://www.cecwheels.com/

[trashcop 80s 80s]

and then you lose 3-5% a year to inflation if your investment is in USD.

It's a pretty rough situation, in general.

Buy a bond for say 3-5%, you lose that each year with inflation so you're basically breaking even.

Buy a MF and somehow manage a 10% return. you lose 3.5 to fees and 3.5 to inflation so now you're looking at more like a 3% return. Better option, but now you're seeing real bond-like returns while taking stock market risk.

Buy an annuity, and enjoy all the fees that has. Plus, you don't even want to know what it will cost to get out before the penalty phase is over.

They take your money, make money off of it, then give you back your deflated currency at a low return or a loss. Great deal.

[Ray Smoodiver]

Sorry guys, the interceptor wasn't supercharged at all. It was a paper mache copy and the belt simply spun doing nothing /mad max nerd.

[SpecM]

gas is down to $3.78 for 87oct here, lowest I could find!

still worried about fuel quality :(