What is Digg?512 Comments
- snea, on 06/25/2008, -13/+381I'm all for fuel efficiency and alternative forms of energy and transportation but if gas dropped back down to $2 I'd walk a around with a boner for about a week.
- NICU, on 06/25/2008, -16/+234Woo woo now is the time to buy a big boat, an SUV to pull it, and a flatbed truck to pull your SUV, gas will be cheap again.
People don't care about saving the environment they care about saving their own money. The exact same thing happened in the 70's and it will happen again. When gas gets cheap you'll see the F150 be #1 again and people realizing how ridiculous they look in a Yaris. - ColonelJessup, on 06/25/2008, -13/+141Here we go again with the digg.com economic professors....................
- relic180, on 06/25/2008, -4/+125You may have a boner for a week, but your balls would belong to OPEC.
- inactive, on 06/25/2008, -29/+134Why don't really fix the problem? I wouldn't be suprised if things start to back off, that way electric cars won't take off. Sooner or later the combustion engine has to die.
- StingingNettle, on 06/25/2008, -8/+111This is the biggest joke ever. Where was congress when their was speculation in housing? Or in the stock market? That's right people love it when their houses and stock go up in value, just not their gas for their car. Also guess what? Last I checked the US doesn't have a monoply on the oil market, whose to stop all those dollars from buying crude on another market? 2 bucks a gallon yeah right.
Stop inflating the money supply, and we might see things become more stable (that's not going to happen). - AmusedToDeath, on 06/25/2008, -4/+70Even if gas was 50 cents a gallon, I'd still buy a reliable, reasonably priced hybrid/electric/hydrogen/water/whatever if it was available. But it's not. So why the ***** do you have to drive me into bankruptcy while we wait for this magical transportation device to appear out of the ether,
- inactive, on 06/25/2008, -7/+72"Gas could fall to $2 if Congress acts, analysts say" and an equal number of other analysts say it could stay the same price or cause the price to go up. Nobody knows! The last time we experimented with large-scale regulation of the crude oil market in the 1970s didn't that cause prices to skyrocket? This involves "preventing pension funds and investment banks from owning commodities" which sounds like a potentially hazardous thing to do the economy... $2 gas sounds great but just because someone claims it will happen doesn't mean that's what will really happen if we make these changes.
- wynja, on 06/25/2008, -13/+62Yeah, 30 days to correct the problem that started decades ago. Neal Ryan is right. New loopholes will be found. We need to adopt a fundamental change in the way futures markets are regulated. Instead of telling them what's illegal to do, which allows for people to find giant holes that were not even imagined. We need to tell these people exactly what they are allowed to do, and anything outside that becomes illegal.
- wrathchilde, on 06/25/2008, -0/+42I usually hit the emergency room after four hours like the bottle says...
- brstilson, on 06/26/2008, -2/+38The fact remains though that gas will not stay at $2 a gallon. I only hope it gets that cheap again for the trucking industry. Heck I'd be happy with diesel coming back down to some realistic prices. You think $4 a gallon to fill your 15 gallon tank is bad? Try having to buy 150 gallons or more at almost $5 a gallon. There is no reason Diesel should be more expensive than gas. It is a less-refined form of fuel that is much cheaper to make and costs a lot less to refine. More oil goes into making diesel than it does gas.
- bdbr, on 06/25/2008, -3/+34Yep. We SAY we want our politicians to be forward-thinking, but the reality is we just want to be comfortable now - even if we know it means we'll be completely ***** in the future.
- bfeagan, on 06/25/2008, -2/+30I just want to know what speculators are still buying oil, and maintaining its price, or driving it higher. I mean, WHO? The only reason they do it is because they somehow think it will go higher. They can't do it forever, and when it goes down, as their gain turns into a loss, they may learn a lesson. And beg Congress for legislation faulting someone else afterward. At what point does the smart money begin selling and realizing their gain? Can you short oil? Where are those traders?
- MasterGrief, on 06/25/2008, -1/+26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priapism
- sgiffy, on 06/25/2008, -0/+24You can short it. Basically you enter into a contract to sell X barrels for Y dollars at Z time. if the prices falls you win, if it rises you lose.
As to why people speculate. Well you can write books on market psychology, but when you get right down it speculative bubbles whether they be real estate, tech stocks, or tulips are caused by both herd behavior and greed. You see other traders making bank on oil and so you want a piece. This goes on until something happens, whether spiking foreclosures, credit problems, or whatever starts either impacting the product being speculated on or makes something else more attractive.
In the case of oil any number of things from increasing supply, a stronger dollar, or higher bond rates could bring the bubble back to earth. - Mactrekr, on 06/25/2008, -6/+29I caught the sarcasm, but really, the only things I'll invest in are Guns, Land, and GOLD!
- SkippyDoorknob, on 06/25/2008, -4/+26Yeah that would be awful. I hated having disposable income before...
- TheBigSquid, on 06/26/2008, -5/+27I was with you until "..and people realizing how ridiculous they look in a Yaris" part. I think seeing one ***** in a big Excursion commuting to work looks ridiculous. Seeing a hick in an F-150 looks almost as bad. For *****'s sake, why do so many people need such big pick ups? To hold their oversized confederate flag belt buckles or Yosemite Sam beards?
- mshtml, on 06/25/2008, -5/+26Waging war on the Middle East and threatening a nuclear first strike on Iran is the reason speculators are driving prices higher. Congress needs to act alright, it needs to stop funding this insane foreign policy.
- xenoc1de, on 06/25/2008, -3/+23Funny I was just talking about this subject when this pops onto the front page.
It is pathetic that the American people aren't educated enough to look past John McCain's pandering to see that his energy (drilling) plans will not affect anything, due to the fact that it is not supply and demand driving our oil prices up. - jemka, on 06/26/2008, -1/+19"people realizing how ridiculous they look in a Yaris." -made my day
- siszam, on 06/25/2008, -12/+30If you don't take care of the environment your kids will still starve. Way to be shortsighted.
- greenroom628, on 06/25/2008, -3/+19gas down to $2 if congress acts? this is the same congress that allowed dubya and his telecom cronies a free ride after spying on us?
- marx2k, on 06/25/2008, -0/+16Agreed. At lower fuel prices, people fail to recognize it as a problem. "Energy problem? $2 gasoline? PROBLEM SOLVED!"
- kakapu4u, on 06/25/2008, -3/+19But it's not just Americans who are speculating... It's not like miraculously (tragically?) making oil speculation illegal in the United States will eliminate speculation in the market. I mean come on.
It may be illegal for United States citizens to travel to Cuba, but it's no problem if you go through another country first. Same deal. If you really want to do it, you can. - inactive, on 06/26/2008, -1/+16I really wish we would stop putting so much effort into getting the price down, and more into alternatives.
I like more nuke plants and electric cars but I stab myself with spoons and ckickens. - bincoder, on 06/25/2008, -5/+18Naturally its going to drop.
If for no other reason than that I have 6 tankfulls stashed away.
Should have stashed the gas when it was 75 cents a gallon.
Note to self: Never invest in anything, anytime. Its all a scam.
/sarcasm - scallon, on 06/26/2008, -4/+17what, exactly, are we currently "winning" ?
- axiomata, on 06/25/2008, -13/+26The only thing worse than $4 gas is $2 gas. This would make things worse. Of course that's what congress likes to do.
- relic180, on 06/25/2008, -6/+19@B1663r
Ok, and that makes perfect sense. Because the country I was born and raised in is full of *****, and if I don't accept it and get used to it then it's my fault. Because god ***** forbid we don't all completely tolerate every stupid, self-important, 'retard-speak' comment from every ***** ***** who wants to scream about how they're the most important piece of ***** around.
Yea, what moron I am, the selfish ***** run this place. I should either get used to it or get the ***** out, right? ***** RIGHT?!? - technonoob, on 06/25/2008, -0/+12Why not hike up grain prices to OPEC countries?
I bet the price will immediately fall back to .99
:) - j.carcinogen, on 06/25/2008, -2/+14Gas isn't the only thing that has risen in price. It's called stagflation... the media is just focusing on the gas to keep people ignorant of the decline of the US dollar.
- relic180, on 06/25/2008, -12/+23And you're basically the core of what is so ***** about America.
"Me, Me, Me, and ***** you."
Maybe it's too much to ask, but you realize there are bigger issues at stake besides your inability to feed and cloth your kids because you drive your SUV around too much. - Wakkyweed, on 06/26/2008, -3/+14Have you ever considered the fact that that the Democrats just barely control congress, and have a hostile sitting president? It's impossible to pass meaningful legislation when everything you send to our ***** president can be vetoed. The Democrats do not have the numbers to override that veto.
We will just have to wait until Obama is president for anything real to get done. In that case if nothing is still being done, then you can start your crying again about how congress doesn't do anything. - Mactrekr, on 06/25/2008, -6/+17WHooooooosh, right over your pointy little head!
- lisajohnson55, on 06/26/2008, -1/+12I agree with you and am pissed since I drive a diesel and have to deal with the super high price. I mean logically, you would think that since it doesn't have to be as refined, it shouldn't cost as much, but there is a reason for it, at least according to what I have heard:
You can't just make diesel, it actually is a byproduct of making regular gasoline, and there is a bigger difference than it just being less refined. For every amount of gasoline produced, there is a smaller amount of diesel produced as a byproduct, meaning that there is less made, which makes it more expensive. Don't take my word for it, but that's the reason from what I have heard. - Laminarcissus, on 06/25/2008, -3/+13Okay look, I built another wing to the left of the left wing so I could have my communist nanny-state meetings there, but even I shy away from government taking long-term default regulatory control of markets. Why not just quit the charade and and fix the price?
Speculation is necessary specifically because it does have an effect on markets -- it translates opinions about the future into current pricing. Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer miles this past April than the April before because gas prices were high. That's the built-in effect of futures speculation saying "the future looks bad, you'd better be conserving this resource now."
The price of gas is high because it should be, we shouldn't short-circuit that mechanism. - xenoc1de, on 06/25/2008, -1/+11Do you not read the articles on digg? Economists say that the price of a barrel of crude should be around $60 due to supply and demand, not the price we currently have.
- Dustmuffins, on 06/26/2008, -1/+11most people won't
- pintomp3, on 06/25/2008, -2/+12no matter which laws you try to write, they will be written by lobbyists. that is the root of this and many other problems. it's not just a republican problem or a democratic problem. it's an american problem.
- Zain123, on 06/26/2008, -1/+11You mean you'd drive around.
- tnoy, on 06/26/2008, -0/+10Its also gotten too expensive for a ***** of people in the US to buy things like Milk, eggs, bread, etc.
- andreo, on 06/26/2008, -1/+10Actually some of those hicks need a pickup. I didn't realize how much a truck is needed by someone until I moved to a rural area. A car just doesn't cut it out here. I had no choice but to buy a cheap truck to get things done.
I don't drive it unless I have to, heck I've had the same tank of gas in it for the last 3 months. - inactive, on 06/26/2008, -2/+11i would love to see whats in your food 1 year after you deregulate all businesses. I would love to see whats in your water and whats in your air. I would love to see you paying large sums of money to 1 phone company, 1 insurance company, 1 bank and 1 internet company which limits where you can go and when.
I would love to see how unsafe your car is, how unemployed your friends would be after all jobs move outside the company.
Companies are using the commons that I own, not them. If they want to be in business in my country, they have to follow the rules to exist in my space. If you deregulate then to the nth degree like you would want, I guarantee you that they would own the country and the commons would be theirs like the libertarians and neocons have set it on pace to be.
Thats why they own the voting system now, thats why they want our water, sewer. Thats why they have more contractor killers in iraq than we have soldiers. Thats why we let them write the laws in the country.
This oil speculation came about because companies wrote the damn laws to remove caps on paper trades for commodity trading. They ***** with the governments (mine and yours) laws. You think if you gave them 10 times as much power they would magically stop? - gn0stik, on 06/25/2008, -1/+10he wasn't talking to you. what is it with people on digg responding as if they were the person who something was originally directed at? It happens all the time. in this particular case, he was responding to someone else's children argument. How does YOUR not having kids mean anything to him?
This really is an odd phenomenon. - inactive, on 06/26/2008, -0/+9You dont the difference obviously. Ours goes to profit, yours goes to taxes which go back to the commons for public transportation. I would gladly pay that in the US for gas if I could take a train or bus to work every day. Because I wouldnt have to pay that much since I would never drive a car.
- mshtml, on 06/26/2008, -1/+9Oil was $27 a barrel before we invaded Iraq and destroyed that country's production, stability and security. I cannot comprehend anyone believing the instability we're causing in the Middle East has no effect on oil prices. An attack on Iran will send oil up another $100/barrel at a minimum.
You are right about one thing, oil did drop last week. It dropped a whole 0.2%. What a bargain. - executorzz, on 06/26/2008, -2/+10Not really. Inflation and demand have not remained the same in that equation. Fair value should probably be around $2+.
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -2/+10no dummy, supply and demand are not whats driving oil prices. Read what he wrote and do your research and you will find he is right.
Americans now are driving less and consuming less oil than they have in a long time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/business/19gas.h ...
demand is decreasing, supply is increasing, but the prices are still going up. The oil companies are sitting on 80 something million acres of oil leases that they have not asked to tap into. The only oil lease requested for in the last 10 years was granted. This is not an issue of environmentalists blocking drilling requests.
the oil companies want the land to hoard oil like gold in a vault so they can secure future profits. If they needed to pump more oil, they have all the leases and land they need, but capacity is meeting demand.
Attn Econ 101 digg professors, this is not a supply and demand issue, get over yourselves thanks. -
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