Apocalyse Now: Regime of High Oil and Food Prices

[Jun aka Pekto]

this whole global PRICE INSTABILITY mess was caused by the weak USD.
(which was caused by the rate cuts which was caused by the credit crisis which was caused by the collapse of the US housing boom)

The USD is the world's reserve currency.

Trillions of dollars of savings belonging to private individuals, companies, and governments are in danger of becoming toilet paper.

When the value of your savings start to diminish very quickly, you would panic.

There was panic... on a global scale!

Anyone with substantial dollar holdings went out looking for a hedge.

Everyone started to buy gold... we all know what happened to gold, right?

They also turned their attention to other commodities like oil and grains...
we also know very well what happened to food and fuel prices, right?

The tremendous rush to hedge against the falling dollar pushed up prices of commodities very high and very fast.

This what happens when u screw with the world's reserve currency.

Meh. We turned to gold after it bottomed out during the late 90's and it was cheap. Next year will be the best time to buy a house (for those who use them as an investment). We're very very tempted to do so.

[jpdm]

There is not end in sight for the galloping oil prices....

...Pinoys should better switch to small and fuel efficient cars..

Israel is adding to the tension by saying its ready to annihilate Iran when the Iranian president announced that Israel should be erased from the face of the earth...

...BTW, Iran is one of the largest producers of oil...

[safeorigin]

imho, there is no way we could predict if it's the real thing or not(pertaining to the apocalypse). nations rise and fall, it's time for us to be looking over our resources, innovate on energy, stay focused. weak dollar or oil hikes wont be the cause of the end of the world. afterall, oil never was renewable and they are nearing to depletion. we should start at looking for alternatives anyway, or the country will be on a dead stop. take the bataan nuclear reactor for example. instead of being stubborn on its possible "devastating" effects and watching countries using it progress, why can't we if they could?
the thing is, people are too afraid to gamble for alternatives and remain on a status quo mindset. we have hybrid rice technology here that produce more yield, yet farmers still stick to traditional rice, because they are afraid of investing more. now, they complain of having too less land and we face supply defecits.

just my 2 cents though

[jpdm]

[SIZE=3]The world faces ‘oil crisis’–IEA[/SIZE]
Business Mirror

June 12, 2008


TOKYO—The world faces an “oil crisis,” and the International Energy Agency (IEA) stands ready to release emergency stockpiles even as the biggest consumers discuss measures to contain spiraling demand, the agency’s chief said.
“Any major oil-plant accident can cause a supply disruption,” executive director Nobuo Tanaka said in an interview in Tokyo. “We at the IEA are monitoring the oil market and preparing ourselves to call for the release of strategic petroleum reserves at any time in the event of a major disruption.”
Consumption in China and India, the world’s fastest-growing major economies, has helped drive crude-oil prices to “abnormally high” levels above $130 a barrel, Tanaka said. The US, Japan and 25 other rich countries advised by the IEA have discussed stop-gap measures to reduce consumption, including lowering speed limits and restricting cars in cities, he said.
“We can call it an ‘oil crisis’ given the current price, and that it continues to climb even after global efforts to cut consumption,” Tanaka said. “We see a critical, structural issue in the global oil market, where supply growth isn’t catching up with demand.”
Unlike the oil crisis in the 1970s, which was driven by supply restraints from the Middle East, the current situation is fueled by soaring demand, the IEA chief said. Speculative investment in commodities is also a driving force behind record prices, he said.
Crude oil futures have doubled in the past 12 months, and investors looking to hedge against the dollar’s drop helped push oil, gold, corn and gasoline to records this year. Oil for July delivery was at $132.62 a barrel, up $1.31, during the mid-afternoon session in Singapore Wednesday in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) set up an interagency task force to evaluate developments in commodity markets, including the role of speculators, the commission said Tuesday. The CFTC held talks with the UK Financial Services Authority about the possibility of introducing limits on the positions traders can take in London’s oil markets, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
“I want the CFTC to set new rules and regulations that will help increase the transparency of the oil market,” Tanaka said. “It’s necessary to some extent to find out who invests what kind of money in which markets.”
Tanaka will take part in the Group of Eight industrialized nations’ finance ministers meeting this weekend in Osaka, Japan.
IEA member-states are required to hold oil stockpiles equivalent to no fewer than 90 days of the prior year’s net imports. The agency calls on countries to release emergency reserves of oil if supply is threatened.
In September 2005, all IEA member-countries, in cooperation with the EU, agreed to offer a total of 60 million barrels of oil and oil products to the market within 30 days as a response to disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the US Gulf.
US Congress introduced a national speed limit of 55 miles (88 kilometers) an hour, in effect from 1974 to 1984, to conserve fuel in the face of the 1973 oil crisis. (With reporting from Singapore. Bloomberg)

I hope something can be done---immediately and effectively...

[uls]

From the article above: "Crude oil futures have doubled in the past 12 months, and investors looking to hedge against the dollar’s drop helped push oil, gold, corn and gasoline to records this year."

The solution is simple: The Fed has to raise rates.

[tidus1203]

Confidence on the money is the key so that we don't have to put it elsewhere where it will retain its value. I am also one of those people who look down on paper money...

[safeorigin]

i wonder if US has plans on using part of its federal reserves

[tidus1203]

What Federal Reserves?? The US is to put it bluntly BROKE! They don't have reserves, they are on budget deficit meaning in order for them to support government spending they need to borrow money year in and year out and the bills keep on piling up. They haven't been able to obtain enough tax money to pay for their expenses. The Iraq war being a huge drain as well as Social Security (which is also on the brink)... Sure they have the largest gold reserves at Fort Knox, but those are not enough to even make a huge impact on the deficit on today's gold market price.

[uls]

federal reserves?

u mean pera na nakatago sa piggy bank ni Bush? hehe

[safeorigin]

i'm talking bout area 51!

lmao, sorry about that. would be quite surprising to see the US become 2nd world eventually. well, who knows? such a wasteful country deserves it. history repeats itself. even their youth in general are quite lazy and too liberated.