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See the original image at news.bbc.co.uk —

G8 leaders Urged To Act Over Oil Prices

news.bbc.co.uk — Japan and the US have pledged to call for "swift action" on surging oil and food prices at next week's G8 summit. The G8 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

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  • chinauprising, on 07/06/2008, -6/+16The only way is to put strong regulations over speculators. - not likely to happen.
    • Infidelcastr0, on 07/07/2008, -3/+12But, but, but regulation is BAD.... not only is it bad it's, it's.... COMMUNISM, right? I thought the "Free Market" was the answer to all our problems?! What about prosperity trickling down? Don't you damn Liberals know anything?




      /sarcasm
    • BESTenemy, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5 Regulation would not get rid of speculators but shift funds associated with speculation to banks in deregulated countries.

      Speculators are nothing but scapegoats in a system where loose monetary policy breeds them. A speculator is someone that keeps wealth in commodities that appreciate in an inflationary environment, while paper money becomes worthless. When FED lends money at a negative rate (prime rate minus core inflation), the only way to preserve wealth is to speculate. What do they expect?! You can't print your way out of an inflation. You can only make things worse. Speculators are nothing but worms in a rotting corpse of our economy. Getting rid of them is not going to revive the body.
    • TypeEE, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Do you mean hatch funds can no longer hatch with oil? Do you still allow oil futures to be traded? I really don't see what's wrong here. If can either drive down demand or increase supply to kill off the speculators.
  • damian7, on 07/07/2008, -4/+0Cramer was right.
  • Fangsinmybeard, on 07/07/2008, -3/+2Urged to act, but won't. Let's see if the corporations will do what the urging requires. Take a cut in profits of more than 85% and you'll see change. Anything less will just embolden the greedy savages.
    • prahareturns, on 07/08/2008, -0/+0I guess you are not familiar with economies of scale and the concept of supply and demand. Oil companies make extremely large profits because they are some of the largest corporations in the world (i.e., ExxonMobil generated only 11% profit on their sales). They supply a product which is a limited resource and demand is increasing. Even though demand in the US is decreasing due to higher prices the global demand has significantly increase (e.g., China and India) Global demand will continue to grow as industrialization increases though-out the world.

      There is very little the US or the G8 can do to have a long term impact on prices. Unless you are willing to build new and replace our existing refineries and open up Alaska and other off limit drilling locations.
  • rzxc, on 07/07/2008, -4/+14King George is concerned about people going hungry? Then why did he turn America's farms into oil fields, driving up the cost of the cost of food by 75%?

    King George is concerned about the price of oil? Then why has he been beating the war drums against Iran, driving up the price of oil?
    • regeya, on 07/08/2008, -1/+3"King George is concerned about people going hungry? Then why did he turn America's farms into oil fields, driving up the cost of the cost of food by 75%?"

      Um, wow. I guess all you have to do to get a comment rated up these days is to call the U.S. President a "king," and mix in a bit of the "No Food for Fuel" rhetoric. Et viola, a GREAT COMMENT!

      Nearly everything about that statement is wrong. I personally never wanted Bush to be President because I thought we'd get into an even worse fix than we're in, but I can't let that one go.

      Ethanol didn't drive the price of food up that high. Toxic housing debt pouring into commodities, the dropping level of the U.S. dollar, and, yes, ethanol contributed to a small amount of that.

      The bill in question was signed by GWB last year. Guess what, genius? Ethanol has been in fuel for years, DECADES, even.

      And if ethanol was such a bad idea, why did the Sierra Club (yes, the SIERRA CLUB) push for gasohol, and why have they praised the current effort as a "great first step?"
    • brad3378, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2To be fair, the Democrats haven't exactly helped with their no-drilling-here policies and their windfall profits tax on AMERICAN oil companies. I think they WANT us to be more dependent on foreign oil, because they sure as hell are making it easier to produce here at home.
    • TypeEE, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1cuz he thinks with his ass.
  • tufftugg, on 07/07/2008, -1/+7 Hey, I thought an Open Corporate market is suppose to save the day, that the trickle down of Corporate intellect and wealth to the lower recesses of the poor would help them. This is the reality...G8 consist of a bunch of greedy little minions who will screw each other at the drop of a hat, if it benefited them. The G8 could not organize a good dump if they needed one.
  • Timdegreat, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4Look at it this way, the spike in oil prices will is 100 times more effective than Kyoto will ever have been. It will work out in the end, just like it did with the 1973 oil crisis. I'm not getting my knickers all tied up in a knot.
    • duggdowncatisad, on 07/07/2008, -1/+5We just need to hope oil prices STAY high, or else we'll go back to not caring and guzzling gas like we did during the Reagan administration.
      • wisefool9, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1Trust me, oil will never be that cheap again, even if you regulated the speculators to literal death, it'll forever be more than it was in the 80's/90's
      • brad3378, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1I think you meant to say the Clinton administration
  • sum33t, on 07/07/2008, -1/+6The G8 is a joke. They won't do anything significant enough to change the price of oil anytime soon.
  • thereisnostate, on 07/07/2008, -0/+5The higher oil prices go the more of an incentive there is for companies to produce alternative vehicles and for consumers to buy them. Using the guns of the government to punish oil companies for making "too much" profit will not even increase the oil supply but will diminish it.

    Freedom as in the free market does not mean perfection but in the long run it is a much better solution than using the guns of the state just so someone can temporarily fill up their gas guzzling SUV at a cheaper rate.
  • alpha88, on 07/07/2008, -2/+4"President Bush has blamed surging oil prices for slow US growth"

    Yeah... it's not that useless war he started or anything. No. Oil is the problem.
    • regeya, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Some conspiracy theorists claim that it was because Saddam started selling oil in Euros that cause the U.S. to attack Iraq...and y'know, Iran's been making noises about that, and surprise surprise, we're rattling our sabers in Iran's direction...

      I don't get why Iran's doing that, either, unless it's to call attention to our penchant for attacking anyone who threatens the dollar. Their currency is worth less than toilet paper.
  • Trevor42, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2Unfortunately these usually just lead to more talking and less action. Personally I am glad that oil prices are surging since it is giving the other 80% of the population reason to start pushing alternative sources. It doesn't have to even be something that isn't proven something simple like nuclear power can at least start being used more in places of need.
  • cantaclaro, on 07/08/2008, -0/+3I urge the Federal Reserve to act over dollar prices and stop printing ***** money. Then the oil will stabilize.
    • synergye, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately while that will assist in stabilizing our economy, it won't stabilize the oil prices because the reason for the high oil prices isn't economic stability, but greed from some of the large oil companies(OPEC anyone?).
  • skellener, on 07/08/2008, -0/+7Best thing they can do is forget oil all together and move the world economy off it. Cheap, clean green renewable energy is the future and we want it now! Let's leave the oil corporations in the dust.
  • BonersMilloy, on 07/08/2008, -0/+0The only countries worth living in!
  • Canadian0207, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2it's not our reliance on foreign oil that's the problem. It's our reliance on oil period.
  • pell, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Yay more talk... action would be better!
  • phreak79, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1What on earth can the G8 do? If the Opec nations were members of G8 it would help. If Venuzuela, Mexico and Nigeria were members it would help. Ditto Norway. Heck, it'd help if Russia gave a damn what G8 thought too. Unfortunately at the moment the G8 are an outdated and pretty toothless institution that likes to pretend the old world order post WW2 still exists.
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