11-24-09 by dugan California doesn’t have many bright spots lately, what with a new $21 billion hole in its budget, more than 12% unemployment and a hapless state Legislature. But its prospects looked up…
Blog Post
Hapless state gets it on climate
Archive | Tag: price-spike
Blog Post
Oil profits shouldn’t ‘recover’
10-30-09 by dugan Why is it that media reports on oil company profits only compare them to the previous quarter and the previous year? This week’s third-quarter profit reports for Exxon, Shell, Chevron and…
Blog Post
Good-news rumor on CA refinery
10-21-08 by dugan With oil prices going through the roof again (near $82 a barrel today), the economy is deeply at risk. But oil refineries are looking like better investments, because gasoline prices will…
Blog Post
A Yogi Berra moment in oil prices
10-16-09 by dugan Oil prices hit another record for the year today, at over $78 dollars for each 42-gallon barrel in futures markets. That’s well over double the late 2008 low of 32 dollars…
Blog Post
Goldman Sachs’ oil-rig loophole
09-10-09 by dugan Who knew that investment giant Goldman Sachs was in the oil business? I’m picturing top execs earning their tens-of-millions bonuses in hard hats and oil-streaked yellow overalls. The news is part…
Report
Who’s killing the U.S. dollar?
08-28-09 by dugan Did you hear the one about how the Bush administration used the wrong calculations last year when it declared that it wasn’t financial speculation causing the huge oil spike price? It’s…
Blog Post
Economic recovery vs. oil
08-22-09 by dugan If a few slightly cheerful sentences from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke can spike the price of oil to a record for the year, the economy is in serious trouble. There’s no…
Press Release
Oil Price Spikes As Oil Profits Skid
Oil Price Spike, As Exxon And Others’ Profit Skids, Shows Potential For New Economy-Killing Energy Roller Coaster, Says Consumer Watchdog Profit Reports Offer More Proof That Oil Prices Are Disconnected From Actual Petroleum CONTACT: Judy…
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Big about-face on speculation
7-28-09 by dugan Last fall, the Bush administration said all that business with oil hitting $147 a barrel and gasoline at over $4.00 a gallon was just supply and demand at work. Today–big oops!…
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Goldman Sachs’ oil revival
7-13-09 by dugan Investment bank Goldman Sachs is about to report an eye-popping profit increase, leaving the rest of the economy in the dust. That should remind us of Goldman’s key role in the energy-price…
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Walk the walk on speculation
Gary Gensler made news today by repeating some earlier pledges to get speculative oil markets under control. He has to act soon. If oil prices can hit $70 a barrel in this economy, they’ll shoot back up to $140 a barrel, with $4-a-gallon gasoline, at the slightest encouragement.
Blog Post
Reality check on oil prices
6-22-09 Nothing changed in the real world today–economy still shrinking, gasoline consumption near 10-year lows. But speculators who doubled the price of crude oil and sent prices at the pump shooting up got some kind…
Blog Post
Price roller coaster redux
06-09-09 by dugan Oil prices hitting close to $70 a barrel today are a speculator’s paradise. Their party, of course, is being paid for by consumers at the pump and struggling businesses. Gasoline is averaging…