Bill O'Reilly wants to know the name of the guy who sets the oil prices.

[rucky]

:rofl:

I hope he shares, once he gets to the bottom of this one.

edited to add: http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=42196

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. ...

:silly: What a maroon!

[SpiralHawk]

20. O'Reilly's not just a maroon, he's a whiney draft-doging republicon moran...

[DS1]

2. Tony Nuggets

[hatrack]

3. I believe it's Mr. Hand . ..

Mr. Invisible Hand - who was supposed to be your best friend, wasn't he Swillo?

[meegbear]

4. He probably works in the same office as that Hal Burton guy

[Initech]

5. It was probably Jabba The Hut.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. ...

:spray: Money isn't everything, is it?

[Junkdrawer]

16. If you're rich enough, the chained sex slaves don't complain about looks...

[A HERETIC I AM]

24. Oil price threads make me hot. n/t

[mcctatas]

6. He should get FOX security on the job...

what a turd he is!

[Deep13]

7. I don't know enough about the Saudi royal family to say. nt

[DefenseLawyer]

9. It's the heads of the Five Families

Exxon, BP, Shell, Conoco and Chevron. Oh wait, surely not. Collusion is a crime.

[Junkdrawer]

10. "Collusion is a crime." - In the US it is....So ARAMCO was sold to "The Saudis" in 1973...

And "The Saudis" are sovereign and can price fix all they want.

Clever, no?

[DefenseLawyer]

13. That's the price of crude, right?

If gas prices are simply rising with the rising cost of crude, how is Exxon clearing 40 billion in profit? Seems to me that when the price of your product rises because of increased input costs, profits would be static.

[Junkdrawer]

14. That's the beauty of it all...Exxon (and the other majors) own oil fields too...

So, when OPEC manipulates crude oil prices, ALL OIL PRODUCERS benefit.

Back in John D.'s day, the monopoly was in refining and marketing. Now, the big money is made selling crude.

[DefenseLawyer]

15. There would still have to be collusion

wouldn't there? Even if the big oil companies own a share of the production, if they were actually competing, wouldn't one of them would sell oil "to itself" at a discount and then undercut his competitors on price? No one does that because there isn't any competition, just a huge cash pie that they are happy to split up as is, rather than compete at a lower price for additional market share. Which I think constitutes price fixing. You couldn't have profit margins like that in a competitive market, someone would take less profit to take your customers. By the way, I appreciate the insight, I don't claim to really understand high finance or the ins and outs of this, just trying to apply common sense (which is probably my first mistake).

[Junkdrawer]

17. Prof. Cowen of USC-Davis has the history all laid out...

http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH13oil.html

It's a long, but worthwhile, read.

[DefenseLawyer]

19. Very interesting, thanks.

Although I still don't think it explains the price of gas.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Nah! It Goes Back Further

When the Reagan administration thought it would be ok for gas refiners to sell unleaded on the same market as crude. It created a situation in which not one refiner would ever have to discuss why nobody competes on price. They now have the permanent answer "we don't set the prices, the market does."

Since the asking bid can be accepted or rejected by any refiner, they won't accept any bid that doesn't cover costs and provides the desired margins, then it can only go up from there.

It doesn't require collusion. The system is rigged and nobody needs to break any laws to keep it that way.
The Professor

[librechik]

12. Magic 8 ball only has 2 answers: Richard B Cheney and GO F*** Yourself !!

but who can believe those things, they're all made in China.

[rucky]

18. That is the answer to most mysteries

At least the ones that Billo stays up nights to ponder. The ones made in China.

[Indenturedebtor]

21. Must have been the Libruls

They are the root of all evil. When we nuke SF all of our problems will cease.

[KG]

22. what's he gonna do? sic 'Fox security' on 'em?

:rofl:

[Javaman]

23. He's a guy named Merle who lives in the basement of his parents house in Seattle. nt

[rucky]

25. kick