Do I even need to mention how bad gas prices are these days? And I know we can blame all those sand people fighting for their revolution for such things, but let's face the facts.. it's our own greedy bastards that are doing this to us.
Options traders are betting more than ever that crude oil is heading to $200 a barrel as some websites call for a “Day of Rage” in Saudi Arabia and anti- government protests spread in the Middle East and North Africa.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts, for “call” options to buy New York crude for June delivery at $200 a barrel. The number has escalated, along with crude futures, to the highest since the options started trading in July 2009 amid worsening civil unrest in Libya and rare demonstrations in Saudi Arabia.
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Call options grant the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy a security at an agreed price before a set date. The $200 June New York crude options expire May 17. Oil rose to $106.45 a barrel today, the highest intraday price since Sept. 29, 2008
They want you to think that every time you see an Arab fist pump, that it will cost you at the pump. In reality they're counting on that fear to fill you. They're glad to use that excuse as a reason to increase what you're paying at the pump.
So perhaps let this be a reminder that Wall Street is to blame here and it's not some silly Arab freedom movement that is causing your SUV to literally ass rape you when you're putting gas into it at the pump.
It's their fault that gas is so expensive as they are going to send oil spiking upwards and on a vicious commodities cycle and everyone in the world is going to moan and groan for more drill baby drill. Particularly offshore and such actions will do nothing because the things making it expensive to drive your gas guzzler are the traders betting in the world's worse casino.
But on the plus side, higher oil prices means less global warming as it literally cost way too fucking much to do anything. So perhaps we should be thanking Wall Street for yet another green capitalist solution to the problem. Maybe now we can just hope for another housing collapse to go hand in hand with the gas prices.
I really have to wonder why is options trading and speculation even permitted on commodities anymore. I mean, haven't we learned our lesson by now? Then again, I guess we have to speculate on something. Can't have a speculator market without some speculating.
This really makes me consider riding my bike more often. Though I live in Southern California. There's no way that I can manage to get around on my daily task on a bicycle. How awful would a 30 mile commute be on a bike?
And please, don't suggest that everyone boycott big oil for one day. Why yes, let's make this a mass movement and show them that they can't gouge us.. on one specific date. Because that shit never works. You probably weren't going to put gas in your car on that day anyway.
On the flip side though, when you think about it, $200 for a barrel full of oil doesn't seem all that bad. I mean, do you know how expensive other things that come in barrels is? Just imagine how much a barrel of even the worse Whiskey would cost you. Though I guess that would be a pretty big waste of Whiskey if you pour that into your shitty SUV.
But barrels really do cost a lot. One barrel of Hewlett Packard ink will set you back $3.6 million. But then again, that's because printer ink seems like the easiest scam on the face of the planet.
Back to the oil speculators. I really wish that they would have their oil actually delivered to them so that they can drown in it. That one bond film had the right idea. Only I probably wouldn't cover some hot red head named Strawberry Fields in a bunch of oil. Well, maybe baby oil. But certainly not crude oil.
So yeah.. fuck gas prices. I can imagine it hitting the $4 mark for the cheap shit within the next two weeks. Just wait till summer. I'm sure we'll all be tickled pink when we're paying $5 a gallon.
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