Nightly Ramble: EightBalls;Bursting Bubbles;more

The market’s conviction that oil prices were set on an unstoppable upswing was underpinned by a set of mantras to be chanted daily before breakfast by anyone hoping to make money by following the crowd: insatiable demand from China; indolent Opec sheikhs unwilling to open the supply taps; that nasty Vladimir Putin playing political hardball with Russia’s oil and gas resources; those mad Iranian mullahs hell-bent on nuclear conflict; and beyond all these, the looming threat of “peak oil”, the inevitable moment when Mother Earth’s carbon-fuel gauge starts pointing towards empty.One way or another, said the fundamentalists, the only destination for oil prices in the medium term was somewhere north of $200 a barrel. And hooray to that, chorused the green lobby, because it may be the only thing that will ever make us wake up to the need to stop cooking the planet with carbon emissions.

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Now the psychological tide seems to be turning. On the supply side, Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of Opec, is now signalling greater willingness to open the oil taps. When the princes of the desert made a rather smaller gesture of willingness in that direction in June, the market took no notice and prices marched on. But in the new mood, any hint of an increase in Saudi supply is a reason to mark down prices.

As for the Russians and the Iranians, the pundits have remembered that even the most externally truculent or internally turbulent of energy-exporting nations can feed its people at home only by selling its natural resources abroad, so must ultimately stay on good terms with its customers.

And meanwhile, five years of rising oil prices have provoked a wave of investment in new drilling and refinery capacity – including the opening up of inaccessible oil sources that no one wanted to tackle when prices were low. Whether it is deep under the Arctic ice-cap or soaked into the tar-sands of northern Alberta, there turns out to be quite a lot more oil waiting to be exploited before we really approach the peak-oil apocalypse. More than that, high oil prices have encouraged rapid development of such alternative energy sources as wind and solar power, and more efficient engine and heating technologies.

They have the story a little sideways. The Saudis and the others are opening the taps because they see that Americans are willing to drill here, even if the Democrat leadership isn’t. They know their monopoly on oil is being seriously challanged. They need to make domestic oil expensive enough to maintain their monopoly. As I suggested would happen.  And again, as I predicted yesterday, we saw a little upward movement yesterday. Today it’s down to $114 and change/BBL.  As I said last spring, when this rocket ride started,  I’ll keep my SUV, thank you.

The mayor faces two counts of assaulting or obstructing a police officer in the furtherance of their duties. Each felony count brings up to 2 years in prison or a fine of $2,000. The mayor and a top aide already face perjury, official misconduct and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his testimony in a civil trial last year….
In May, the Detroit City Council asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to invoke a little-used state law and remove Kilpatrick from office for misconduct. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.

Consider all the other sperm that gave their lives so this idiot could live.  And…. should it be pointed out that Granholm is a Democrat as is Kilpatrick? Suffice it to say Granholm won’t remove Kilpatrick.