White House considers tapping oil reserves

[defendandprotect]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110306/ts_nm/us_usa_energy_reserves

[sharesunited]

1. Here's how you do it to maximize the effect of depressing oil prices, while minimizing depletion:

Sell 1000 contracts of West Texas Intermediate crude every three minutes if the bid price is at least a penny higher than the bid price three minutes ago.

Buy back each of those contracts whenever the current price is a nickel cheaper than the price paid for it.

This should be an automated trading program run out of the DOE continuously during WTI domestic trading hours.

The Strategic Oil Reserve would only need to be used to make delivery when net outstanding sell contracts expire.

The federal government can make a profit doing this while crushing rallies.

We actually have the oil. Why not use it punish bull side speculation in the commodity?

(BTW: Does this White House really want cheaper oil prices? Or is expensive oil viewed as promoting green energy alternatives?)

[TheWraith]

3. I think it's reasonable to assume they want cheaper oil prices.

While high energy cost does encourage use of other energy sources, I'm fairly certain that that doesn't outweigh the drag it creates on the economy. If the price of everything increases, and the economy decreases, it means that there's less economic reinvestment, and that's bad for clean energy. It takes money to shift away from oil and coal, and so long as they don't know if they're going to have a job in three months, people aren't going to buy a new electric car.

I also feel I should note that oil is, in reality, only one part of the problem of dirty energy. Coal remains cheap, emits as much CO2 as our oil usage does, and has even more contaminant byproducts creating smog and air pollution.

[B Calm]

2. I'm all for it if it stops those Wall Street oil speculating pricks!

[Wilms]

4. Better that than our phones. n/t