Brent oil prices spike to new high; analysts eye 60 dollars

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1504&e=6&u=/afp/20041008/bs_afp/oil_price_041008164528


LONDON (AFP) - The price of Brent crude oil reached a new record high, as analysts warned a looming strike in Nigeria could drive US crude oil futures up to 60 dollars a barrel.

The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in November reached a record summit of 49.30 dollars in early deals in London, breaking the previous peak of 49.20 dollars set Thursday.


In late afternoon deals the contract was up 20 cents at 49.10 dollars.


In New York, the price of reference light sweet crude for November delivery slipped nine cents to 52.58 dollars a barrel in early trading.

[cliss]

1. As the roller coaster ride plunges very hard down,

very fast. Hold onto that bar in front of you. It's going to be a rough ride. I remember reading the ominous, prophetic words of Stan Goff who warned that "our economy will come to a standstill when oil hits $50.00 a barrel".

We're there, folks. We've gone beyond his RIP tombstone marker. We may even go as high as $60/barrel. I'm assuming that the retail equivalent of $50/barrel is $2.50/gallon. $60/barrel would maybe go as high as $3.00/gallon. Which isn't impossible.

I just got back from a vacation in Sweden, and we paid $5.60/gallon. It was horrendously expensive, but you don't see their economies folding up.

So why is this going to be the death blow for the US economy? I think it has something to do with an inability to shift to higher prices. Our economy is apparently so fragile that it's unable to function with higher prices.

See fromthewilderness.com for more information.

[Skittles]

2. when my English brother talks gas prices in England

I remind him that I paid $4000 out of pocket dental expenses last year and who freakking knows how much medical. For what they pay for a gallon of gas THEY GET SOMETHING IN RETURN BESIDES THE GASOLINE.

[leftchick]

3. I heard a freeper c-span caller this morning say....

That she does not understand why people are talking down the economy, she thinks it is "doing great"!!! Ahhh, to be a clueless ameriKan and love your fearless leader while he steals you blind.

[Kolesar]

4. Is that the same Stan Goff who writes at Counterpunch.org?

[cliss]

6. Yes. He has a few articles onCounterpunch.

He also has several articles on Fromthewilderness.com.

He is also the founder of Bring Them Home Now, an organization dedicated to getting our service people out of Iraq.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com

http://www.bringthemhomenow.org

[Kolesar]

7. I am not a big fan of Counterpunch

They wrote some really nasty stuff about Kerry. Goff referred to his candidacy as a "military dick length measuring contest with George Bush".

Meanwhile, if you read Goff's mini-bio on the site, Goff cites his "special forces" military experience. If that isn't dick length measuring, I don't know what is.

edit:typo

[reprobate]

5. I look for the airline industry to crash dive before very long.

They are in big trouble financialy right now. With fuel effectively doubleing their costs are into the stratusphere now and will go higher. I think we will see the end of low fares and a return to regulated fares, like it was before regulation. At least then you could count on the proper maintanence being done to the aircraft so they wouldn't dive into the pacific like Alaska Air did.

Meanwhile, we refuse to put a penny into high speed rail while most other countries are building as fast as they can. It's more fuel efficient, just as fast-if you count the time to and from the airport- and maglev is a hell of a lot less poluting than JP-5.

[Kolesar]

9. Produce is flown to our grocery stores

There are apples from New Zealand at my grocery store. That will end with high petroleum prices.

[DBoon]

13. Cheap goods from China

sold in Walmart will hurt too.

Too bad we don't really make anything in America anymore.

[BiggJawn]

8. Seein's as how I couldn't even DREAM of "vacactioning in Sweden"...

I'll try to answer your question. probably won't do a very good job, but here goes anyway.

So you vacationed in Sweden, good for you, I'm all happy and shit.
*I* went to Michigan. About a 135 mile drive, and my ESSO and I were discussing if we could really afford it this year, since fuel was going to be a bigger chunk of the budget this year than before...

Anyway, Look around you, if you live in the USA. YOU might be able to absorb $3-a-gallon gasoline, but what about the person who fixed your Venti Grande Mucho what-ever? The guy who runs the cash register where you buy the expensive juice?

Tell me, do they have Mass Transit in Sweden? If so, we have already gone into an "apples and oranges" argument here. We have NO mass transit in this country, out side of the biggest metro areas. I don't have a commuter bus or train to ride, it's too far to walk to work, my workplace (never mind the popular culture) is not conducive to putting in a days work after completing a sweaty 15-mile bicycle commute...

In a nutshell, how is our low-wage service-based economy supposed to function when the majority of the workforce can no longer afford to get to their low-paying McJobs?

[durablend]

10. Just you wait!

Just wait...diesel is up to $2.29 a gallon (and climbing)...once that starts rippling into consumer prices then we're gonna see some REAL pain (as if it's not bad enough now)

Of course, let's not forget about the people that are going to likely freeze to death over the winter when they can't afford to heat their house...guess it's the Bush plan to get rid of the whining po'people.

[BiggJawn]

11. That Would Be Me....

"...the people that are going to likely freeze to death over the winter when they can't afford to heat their house."

I wouldn't mind it so much, if I was one of those folks who was gonna have to give back part of my "Chimp Bribe" when Kerry becomes Prezz, I could afford to eat the higher prices. But as it is, I only got a fuckin' $400 for MY "tax Break" anyway...

Something's gotta give. They casn shut only so many people off before csome kind of mass disobedience happens...

Ever see a chunk of garden hose used to replace a pulled gas meter?

[cliss]

14. Here's what we found.

We spent most of our time in Stockholm. That entire city is built for walking and public transportation. If you are foolish enough to own a car in Stockholm, you will get nailed. Parking is outrageous. Even if you live in an apartment (own it) you still need to pay an overnight fee or you will get a ticket which is very steep. Overnight fee to park on the street: $10.00.

Gas was very, very expensive. We saw people walking everywhere. Lots of people were riding bikes, and we saw slim people everywhere we looked.

When we went to the Northern part of Sweden, we were forced to rent a car. It was very expensive: $5.60/gallon. Luckily, we were only there 5 days so it didn't kill my budget.

**Re: our "luxurious vacation". I'm a single mom w. 3 teenage boys. This trip took me 10 years of scrimping and saving. I'd wanted to visit my relatives for the longest time, but my budget wouldn't allow it. We finally got to go. It really wasn't that expensive because we rented an apartment in Stockholm. It ended up being $37.00/night. The food was very reasonable because we ate at home every night. In Northern Sweden, we rented an old farm house from the 1800's. It had no plumbing (i.e., no toilet, no running water) but was wonderful anyway.

[BiggJawn]

15. So what do the folks in the northern parts do?

And sorry about my inferrence that you're a "Limosine Liberal".

What DO they do? If you had to pay $5.60 a gallon, what about them?
the northern parts sound something like where I live, a long ways to anything...But then they get that foreign-styled Socialist medicine, don't they? like the Canandians, and the Brits with their NHS....

[cliss]

18. heh heh

There are buses which cover every hamlet, village and connect to larger cities. Most people did seem to have a car, though. Most of them were pretty small cars, like little Peugeot's or Volvo's and thiings like that (for obvious reasons). No Hummers to be seen ANYWHERE.

I think you're right: people are able to afford to pay high prices because they all have FREE health care and dental care. It's provided for everyone who lives in Sweden. They also have really nice benefits in many other areas. My oldest teenager wants to go to school there. It's free, all the way up to a Ph. D. if he wants to. As a matter of fact, he was going to get a student subsidy of around $900.00 per month just for studying there.

It seems like some countries do a better job of providing for their citizens. They all seemed pretty happy, too, from what I could tell.

[BiggJawn]

20. Wow...Free Grad School AND a Stipend...

That stipend is only about 1/2 what I bring home. And I've been at what I do for 20 years, too. Got a Degree, too, not a PhD, but still, a degree and less than 40 kilobucks?

I wouldn't mind having one of those little cars, but the NHTSA, in all their infinite wisdom, has decreed that anything you can buy to drive in this country must be able to survive being run over by a Cellie-yacking Obliviotron in their H-2....Wouldn't want one for my "date car", though....:-)

And BUSES! When I was a kid, we had buses that ran from Indianapolis, to New Augusta, to Zionsville, and Lebanon, and other lines that went through Fishers, and service several times a day to Noblesville. They called the company "Suburban Lines" and they had old blue-and-white GM coaches...When I left Indy, I lived in what was considerd "downtown", but the buses ran inbound hourly, and outbound hourly. I could take the 7:55 in, and be late, or take the 6:55 and cool my heels for a while. In the evening, I could stand around for an hour and catch the 5:55, since I didn't get out in time for the 4:55 bus. or I could walk the 2 miles home...They don't do that anymore. I drove.

I saw Shrubya going on tonight about something being "European". Guess he thinks it's a bad thing. Oh, yeah, he pretty much said "Who gives a shit if Europe LIKES us? I don't CARE who LIKES us, I'm more interested in who FEARS us..."

I need to stop thinking of Murka as a "civilised" country, don't I?

[aneerkoinos]

19. Since you ask

"In a nutshell, how is our low-wage service-based economy supposed to function when the majority of the workforce can no longer afford to get to their low-paying McJobs?"

It's not going to function. Simple as that. American society is not functional, it's built on the lie that energy is unlimited, lie that has been made possible by extensive use of fossile fuels (90% of all energy consumption).

The oil prices aren't going down, and they won't stop at $60/barrel. Peak Oil is here and now and $180/barrel is realistic price. Peak NG in North American continent is just as real and serious. Suburbian way of life, based on burning fossile fuels, is doomed, it is stupid misinvestment beyond comparison. Mass unemployment, imports stopping when debt problem actualizes, US defaults and world financial house of cards collapses, no energy inefficient infrastructure, no social security net, most importantly poor communal spirit, 'homo economicus' created by all-intruding commercialism is secluded individual and will most likely stay in denial and keep on acting grazy than face reality and start doing something usefull.

So realistic expectation is that your society will collapse, enter starvation, disease and violent anarchy, steeply dropping population. Cuba can accept only so many refugees.

Hopeless? No. But you need to stop whining, get that bike, get in shape, learn usefull new skills, educate yourself. Get organized: Start study groups, co-operatives, resistance cells, work with people. Capitalism is dead, better just accept that when there is still time push the odds in your favour. That means green revolution, social revolution, hopefully peacefull one. But the revolution is coming, and it's up to you to make it succesfull one, a revolution that leaves no one behind. Your countrymen need your help.

[BiggJawn]

21. Gee, that sounds pleasant....

But I think you speak a lot of truth there...unfortunately.

T'hell with my "countrymen". While I worry about mundane non-revolutionary things like staying warm and fed, they're out there joy-riding in their H-2's with their "Crunch all we want, we can buy MORE" mentality.

"...green revolution, social revolution, hopefully peacefull one."
I doubt it. 75% will mill around bleating Rushisms, blaming "Klintoon", and freezing, and the other 25% will be killing the rest for what little of use they still posess.

Sure does look like the end of the ride's coming, and it looks pretty ugly. Now where did I put those "Foxfire" books....

[Chicago Democrat]

12. The US would be fucked at 5.60 a gallon....

Which we will be anyway (fucked that is)

Reason #1- Hummers, Escalades, Explorer and on and on and on. WTF is wrong with American's???? I wanna a VW bug or a Toyota Scion to replace my Breeze and ride my Vespa on nice days...

[BiggJawn]

16. I'm getting the idea that I'm not long for the Rural Thing...

Guess they want us all close to the cities, so they can scoop us up to make Soylent Green easier....

[Chicago Democrat]

17. I know exactly what you mean! Its so much harder in the Country.

Where EVERYTHING is at least 15 minute drive and somethings are a 3 hour drive. Sure rent or housing is cheap, but the jobs all pay 1/2 of the city versions. Plus, since everything has to be carted in (well almost everything) from Smokes to Cokes carries a premium for being hauled in... If gas goes up, that premium goes through the roof.

If want something fancy like Procuitto or Falafels or French Champage... good luck!

The country life.... its hard work!

[struggle4progress]

22. WTF do you expect when oil companies control the US govt? eom