Western financial experts have a self-interest to never explain this issue. Instead, they frame the issue as BRICS seeking an alternate currency in the energy markets. However, the currency or petrodollar is not the issue. At least it’s not the core issue.
What Vladimir Putin, and by extension BRICS, do not want is corporatism -corporate financial control over govt systems- determining prices.
To give you an example of Vladimir Putin’s argument, consider orange juice.
Why should orange juice in California or Florida cost $7/gal, when the oranges are in CA or FL?
Shouldn’t the orange juice in FL or CA be cheaper than in, say, Minnesota? Logic would say, yes.
However, that would mean the corporations who have purchased the OJ production couldn’t maximize predatory profiting, through nonmarket forces, ie. “Commodity trading.”
The same organic supply/demand rule applies to strawberries, or [fill in the blank].
What is setting the price, what the west calls the “market price,” is actually the commodity trading issue. That means Minnesota, Florida and California consumers all pay the same price. Within the energy sector Putin views this as unfair and unworkable.
To his credit, under normal supply/demand Putin would be selling oil/gas to Europe at much lower prices than “market prices” because the pipelines are in place, the proximity is near and the delivery is cheap.
However, for Europe that means the financial markets would not control energy prices. Europe wants financial control, not cheap energy.
The need for control is a reaction to fear. The financial system, the bankers and the multinational corporations, fears their loss of control.
So, war!
“Commodity trading”
Why does my mind immediately go to Eddie Murphy in “Trading Places”? And why do I see the two Duke brothers in exactly the same light as all of the clowns in the above picture…and so desperately wish for the same end to come to all of them that it did to the “traders” in the movie?
There is more truth to that movie than most people realize
Eugenics. Nature vs. Nurture. The Bet. $1. Jeffrey Epstein globalist stuff.
Aaron Russo, producer. Figured out a whole lot before an untimely death:
America: Freedom to Fascism (2006)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America:_Freedom_to_Fascism
Excellent film.
Come on man,,I’m a duke by the way,,and I don’t think that
Don’t forget, they made it all back in Coming to America.
“Y’all ain’t nothing but a bunch of bookies.”
So true!
All depends on the consumers. Stop buying overpriced products and eventually the price must fall. A good lesson in economics for unnecessary purchases.
My first thoughts as well. Oh look the Duke brothers are going for the entire market, got to get me some of that!!!!!! LOLOLOLOLOL ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES DAN ACKROID AND EDDIE MURPHY IN THEIR PRIME.
eddie still demands to know who was dropping the kools on his persian rug
after all, it was from persia
What Pres. Putin is really decrying is the Soros/Carney Model of Vulture Capitalism, aka the Private Equity Pump-and-Dump Model.
They take perfectly good businesses and products, squeeze everything out and pick the bones clean, leaving human carnage in their wake.
The carnage is desired as a path to a Beast Regime One-World Government.
If you don’t like Soros/Carney, you may say “Rothschild/Rockefeller” instead.
Mittens Romney did that with Bain Capital.
If I own a gas station and I fill the storage tanks at $3.00 a gallon and gas goes up to $4.00 the next day do I sell it at $3.00 or $4.00 a gallon?
Gas prices are not set at a barrel of oil price and haven’t been for decades.
It’s all manipulation and greed especially when you know gas station employees who reveal they set the price at the pumps by calling 2 or 3 of the nearest stations to see what they are charging.
It’s all based on greed and fairness never plays into it.
Greed is what makes capitalism work. Fairness is what Communists argue for.
No, fairness is what they say they’re arguing for.
What they’re really arguing for is Tim Walz looting Trillions in Fraud while Chis Wray frames your grandmother for noticing.
What they are really saying is that it isn’t fair that you have made all this money and they didn’t.
What they think is fair is for you to now hand it all to them.
So you made the money for them, this is their idea of fair.
And if that fails, there’s always the tax code to jigger.
🎯
A moral people including the “store keeper” is foundational to America. Free and FAIR trading eliminates greed. Main Street not corporatist Wall Street.
Wall Street is all about “obscene ” profits.
Capitalism has morphed into anything but America First, it is Corporatism in our modern form. To be crude it is screw everyone else, I am out to get mine for me and the company.
Sadly, a moral people escapes far, far too many.
Morals and dignity are lacking! They should walk hand in hand.
About Wall Street…in the early 80’s, there was a ‘new’ savings product being made available, to the unwashed masses…it was called ‘money market accounts’ which were going to pay much higher interest than the banks, if I recall correctly…that was back in the day when there were ‘stock brokers’…and not on line trading…and one had to buy a huge number of shares of an equity…
The 50 year business plan? Or planning to capture the money of an overpopulated America?
I’m old enough to remember when this country used to break up monopolies, hence keeping the playing field fair, or as far as it could be. Today we don’t break those monopolies up anymore… and now the beast threatens to devour everyone.Even government types have to figure out how to rein in the beast they created.
The “government types” have “10 ways to Sunday” to break anybody if they’re hesitant to bend to the will of Kongress! We’ve seen that work in old history and even just last year! So long as Kongress can figure out how to get their money out of the deal, monopolies are good because they pay more and pay better after showing who is at the top of this stack! OK; let’s be nice and call it Lobbying and Supporters of Democracy!
BUT, people still control prices by NOT buying frivolous wants! People complain about gas prices while buying all kinds of costly extras.
Fairness is the children’s word for justice. It’s the jaded adults that tell children that the world’s unfair and to get used to it, while they themselves riot in the UK against “two-tiered justice system” and in America they rail against the “weaponization of the Department of Justice”. Adults can lazily and easily become great hypocrites.
Communists greed is for power and control. The financial rewards are just an ancillary reward.
No! Communism pretends it is “fairness” when it is a cover for complete domination.
“Fair’s got nothing to do with it.”
The Unforgiven
Fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Try running a station, or any business for that matter, before judging.
Try justifying your existence knowing that you are screwing everyone.
My friend owns 20 Gas Stations in 2 states and another 10 Grocery Stores of his own two brands… that are large enough that they bought a couple of old Walmarts and refurbished them… what’s your point here?
I’ll take freedom over fairness everyday, everytime.
Then why not force price controls?
If $3/gal was your profit position, then you should sell it at $3/gal.
Why is this complicated?
It’s not complicated.
Yet multiple streaming channels per household is the norm.
$3 gas is cheap.
Within my ‘hood in IL, for a 3 mile radius…every gas station, name brand and cheap gas, prices it the same.
I’ve got a 40+ mile radius that stays the same except 5 cents cheaper at the Rez where they do not pay NYS gas tax. It’s out of the way to save $1-2 a tank. Ridiculous!
Same in my Il. hood. But I have the option to cross into mo. where the price is considerably cheaper. 4.49 at the local QT, but cross the river at another QT and gas was 3.83
Same gas. Same products available. Not too far out of the way to save nearly .60 a gallon.
I worked as a gas station manager in Australia.
If you’re selling the 30,000 gallons underground for $3, but get word that the wholesale price has gone up to, say $3.60 /gallon, then you can go bankrupt buying 30,000 g’s at $3.60 but only got $3 for existing stock.
Margins are too small, the debt gone into before selling (must pay the wholesaler before delivery) is crushing.
Same thing applies in any industry with volatile prices. Gold, silver and coin dealers go through the same dilemma. Sell your silver eagles for $45 because you got them for $40? But the price of silver went up to $123 in just a couple of months. How do you replace the sold stock and still make money to pay staff, rent, outgoings etc?
You can’t just sell based on what you paid, but must consider what you yourself have to pay to replace sold stock.
I hope this answers your question.
No the price does not have to increase based upon future prices…. Lol.
Gas prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather.
That’s my point…. if your input price was $3 per gallon and the next week it is $3.50…. the $3.50 gas will still sell at profit. This immediate price arbitrage is a scam.
Smart business folks that carry inventory for keeping customers supplied without shortages make an inventory profit as the price rises knowing that when prices fall they will have to use some of that inventory profit to stay competitive with the folks that do not carry inventory. Let the market decide and keep government out of it.
Smart business folks…. that’s hilarious…. Smart business folks don’t run on small margins of profit.
Well, that was a very insightful reply Sam Percy. Thank you. I am so much wiser because of it.
Thanks Progressives for doing the heavy lifting for me. I was puzzled with even how to respond?
Somewhat germane to Mr Putin’s recent remarks.
Speculation has lots of inherent problems.
Cross yo’ fingers before you roll the loaded dice.
When you fill the tanks with 3.60 gas and get word the price is going to 3.00, do you immediately change the price to 3.00?
It all depends on how much competition there is.
That’s market pricing. Seems unfair (it is) but nothing can be done about it except go to the next gas station. That’s the free market in operation, which Americans have (rightfully) championed for 250 years.
Because you decided $3 is the profit position. With competition the market decides, break up the too big to fail corporations. You do not like markets that are regulated by a monopoly or oligopoly. Break the big corporations up.
There are some things that are too important to be left to “THE MARKET.”
Oil is one of them.
Our world wide “problem” is that oil is treated as a “COMMODITY.”
Its price is allowed to “FLOAT”, based on the ever-changing value of an “arbitrarily chosen” “BENCHMARK” .
That benchmark is called “BRENT CRUDE.”
The United States of America has its own BENCHMARK called “WTI West Texas Intermediate”, but by treaty it is essentialy ignored, and is forced to FLOAT also .
Practically all gasoline sold to Anericans in the USA is PUMPED AND REFINED in the USA.
Over time, we have learned that the price of $44.00 per barrel for WTI is the “ESTABLISHED BREAK EVEN POINT” in cost.
$44.00 per barrel pays the cost of FINANCING the PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATION, DRILLING, TRANSPORT, STORAGE, REFINING, SECONDARY STORAGE, and DISTRIBUTION, including a 5 percent profit.
So if CONGRESS and the SENATE ordered that the cost of WTI should be PERMANANTLY pegged at $44.00 per barrel, then the price of gasoline in the USA could always stay the same at all stations, and each Station Owner would make a 5 percent profit.
The last time that WTI was sold at $44.00 per barrel in the USA was toward the end of Trumps first term, and that translated into gasoline sold at $1.86 cents per gallon.
Right now, our USA OIL PRODUCERS are all still producing oil for an “AT COST” price of $44.00 per barrel, and are MAKING EXTRA, UN-NECESSARY PROFITS, because of the fact that the USA signed a treaty in the 1970’s that ARBITRARILY ties the cost of WTI to the international “FLOATING PRICE” of Brent Crude.
Trump was complaining 2 weeks ago that this past quarter, the BIG AMERICAN OIL PRODUCERS POSTED THEIR HIGHEST PROFITS IN HISTORY .
The treaty needs to be ended.
WTI needs to be “DISCONNECTED” from Brent Crude.
Congress needs to TAKE OIL / GASOLINE OFF THE “MARKET”, and set it up as a “PERMANANT CONTROLLED COMMODITY” with a set PRODUCTION COST decided by Congress somewhere near the $44.00 per barrel ACTUAL cost.
That way all gasoline, and diesel sold in America would be LOW, and the same everywhere.
Congress would be tasked with periodically adjusting the cost-per-barrel of WTI if such a need ever arose .
In other words, all American Refined Gasoline currently being sold at $4.19 per gallon, was produced for $1.86 cents per gallon ( including a 5 percent built in profit ), and is BEING ARBITRARILY PRICE INFLATED BECAUSE OF A TREATY SIGNED DURING THE 1970’s OPEC OIL CRISIS.
and we all know now that OIL CRISIS was a false flag hit job by our friends in London.
$4.19 minus $1.86 actual cost EQUALS THE THEFT OF $2.33 PER GALLON FROM EVERY AMERICAN FAMILY.
Using a 20 gallon auto gas tank as a standard.
That means that the average American Family is being ROBBED of $2,423.00 PER YEAR PER CAR DUE TO COMMODITY THEFT.
(ie: $2.33 per gallon theft, multiplied by a 20 gallon gas tank of fuel used per week, multiplied by 52 weeks, equals $2,423.00 stolen per car per year from every American Family.)
The “AT COST” of the normal $44.00 cost per barrel / $1.86 cost per gallon of producing WTI American gasoline shows that at $1.86, the average American Family should only be paying $1,940.40 per year, per car.
( $1.86 per gallon AT COST price, multiplied by a 20 gallon gas tank of fuel used per week, multiplied by 52 weeks, equals a NORMAL, VALID, COST OF $1,940.40 .)
Yet, the average American, instead of paying $1,940.40 per car for gasoline per year,
ARE ACTUALLY PAYING:
$4,363.40 per car per year for gasoline.
( $1,940.40 real cost, plus $2,423.00 in excess theft commodity profits, equals $4,363.40 .)
So, the average TWO CAR AMERICAN FAMILY IS BEING ROBBED OF $4,846.00 PER YEAR IN EXCESS GASOLINE COSTS.
(ie: $2,423.00 per car in theft multiplied by two cars equals $4,846.00 in total theft.)
I would rather oil be no longer treated as a “FLOATING COMMODITY” WHOSE PRICE IS CONSTANTLY BEING MANIPULATED BY WEF, OLIGARCHS, NGO’s, AND CORRUPT ELITES, AND UN-AFFILIATED EVENTS .
I want my $4,846.00 per year in stolen profits back.
But then what do i know.
That was a long-winded way to say “I want permanent gas lines.” The world is awash in crude oil. Keep the government out of it as much as possible.
Not exactly.
What i want is:
– predictability
– low gas prices
The current world order allows for neither .
It is true that the World is awash in crude oil.
But you seem to think that “GOVERNMENT IS NOT INVOLVED IN THE FLUCTUATING MARKET PRICE OF CRUDE.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The CURRENT “MARKET” was set up, and is maintained by a 1970’s Government law and treaty.
GOVERNMENT is the reason the market fluctuates.
I AM SIMPLY SUGGESTING THAT:
– WE “CHANGE THE RULES” by which THE GOVERNMENT is doing what it has been doing for 50 years.
The bottom line as i stated above is still true .
– IT COSTS $1.86 PER GALLON TO MAKE AND DISTRIBUTE GASOLINE IN THE USA USING OUR OWN USA WTI CRUDE.
Yet we are SELLING OUR GASOLINE DOMESTICALLY TO OURSELVES based on an “ARBITRARILY INFLATED PRICE DETERMINED BY PEOPLE OVERSEAS.”
So play whatever MIND GAMES you want, but the bottom line is:
– EVERY TIME YOU BUY GASOLINE FOR MORE THAN $1.86 PER GALLON, YOU ARE BEING “CHEATED.”
It is written like a true Communist. Next Health Care and then AI. Then just 1 company owned by the state in each market segment.
In your dreams.
The same SWAMP that runs our country, RUNS THE OIL INDUSTRY.
I am simply saying that once Trump drains the SWAMP, he should REDIRECT the tools that the SWAMP USES TO KEEP THE PRICE OF GAS “HIGH”, TO INSTEAD KEEP THE PRICE OF GAS “LOW.”
In addition, you are a bit LATE.
You say NEXT, HEALTHCARE” ..?????
The communists like you already destroyed Healthcare back in 2008 with Obamacare.
As for AI, it doesn’t appear that any human corporation is going to run AI.
Instead, AI will be running most companies, and humans .
Terry, you don’t seem to have a good grasp of reality.
No. The Swamp in the Private Sector has to make money. The government is not saddled with that burden until they run out of other peoples’ money.
The way economics goes, the highest amount a seller can charge and still get enough people willing to buy it so they get max profit, is what the price winds up as. It the equilibrium.
What can adjust the price down is TWO kinds of competition. (1) If another seller offers cheaper product, the customer goes there and the first seller then must lower or get no sale. (2) if the cost is prohibitively high the customer just doesn’t buy the product *at all*, and thus the seller has to lower price to keep in business.
I submit that right now neither type of competition exists because (1) there are no “other” sellers to offer lower prices because they *all* charge the same, whether by calling eachother, basing it off these commodity futures, or whatever, and (2) consumers simply can’t refuse to buy fuel. They can drive less, but it is essential. The only time it really played out was during covid, when they were forced not to drive.
Am I missing anything?
Nope. You are exactly correct .
What you are describing is called a “MONOPOLY.”
Which is illegal in the USA, but which the oil industry operates as .
Which is why Trump is trying to tear it down .
It’s not greed at all . It’s common sense. If you buy gasoline to fill your reserves at $3.00 a gallon and next week the price drops to $2.00 a gallon, you’re scewed, by your own folly. You must charge more when the market allows it because you must charge less when the market requires it.
What do YOU sell that allows you to charge more than market price, anyway? Insulin or something?
The price isn’t dropping a $1 a week… that’s pure BS…..
do you understand what a hypothetical illustration is?
I understand you are full of Shit….. I repeat gas is not dropping $1 per week and more often than not it takes weeks or months to drop to current Prices after Oil goes down. So please stop with the BS games.
Pretty sure that was just for simple-math. If it went up or down by .05 his point remains. When you’re buying many thousands of gallons, a nickel/gal matters too, near as I see it.
What I understand about such things are that lead/lag times are in play + delivery costs (which are also ‘current price of fuel’ dependent) and it takes upfront money to order ‘stock’ and that money comes from somewhere (current sales I would expect?).
So, if the price of ‘new stock’ is now 3.05 and they’re selling at 3.00… they will be losing money keeping their price at 3.00 when placing orders for the 3.05 stock. They pay for the stock before delivery AFAIK?
We all know of certain gas stations in our local areas that have higher prices and the only people that go there are passing-through and have no idea where the cheaper gas is to found. I guess that’s a biz model too.
I live in the real world…. not some imagined BS you guys keep spewing. Gas doesn’t drop that fast… once Oil does…. so whatever you are trying to create with your delusions is not real.
If your entire point is that gas prices don’t change the day after oil does in typical market movements, then that’s fine… you didn’t say that though.
If you’re also saying you’ve never seen gas prices change after drastic “issues” in the Oil-Supply market (Gulf War I/II, etc…) then you’re either living in a super insulated part of the world, or you’re not paying attention. Large movements in the ‘Oil Market’ absolutely -can- change the price of gas overnight when there’s a panic in the market(s). Suppliers will definitely raise the wholesale cost of gas if, say, Iran shuts down the S.o.H..
The original point that I believe he was making (my impression, he can correct me if I’m wrong) was that when the price of -GAS- changes on the wholesale market, then the retail price of gas will -necessarily- change.
You are correct. My ex worked for major oil company. One or two nights per week he would have to drive certain areas to see what competition was charging to determine if the prices should go up or down at the stations in the area he was responsible for. That was back in the 1970’s so nothing much has changed.
If it’s selling higher, the price you paid no longer matters, you need to replace what you’ve sold.
So you need to sell it at a price that you can afford your replacement cost.
there is definitely a large part of overlay and overhand.
apparently no one questions the obvious, as you so clearly outlined.
I think some of this is part of the “immediacy” of the interwebs now. People just assume that something that has happened a world away in the last hour has some effect on their gas prices down the road. I can’t be that efficient. it never was. That crude oil will spend AT LEAST one month before it even gets to market.
the other part is that energy markets are captive and coordinated. The ole “price is set based on what people are willing to pay” doesn’t exist (arguably it hasn’t in a long time). It’s been replaced by, good luck finding any difference in price in energy (namely fuel for your vehicle unless you are willing to drive long distances to find it and by then it’s moot)
God Bless America
Exactly! As soon as a barrel started rising, the prices at the local Dollar General (one in every town, rural NE), went up .25-$1.00 per item. These shelf items were already there before oil rose. I call that gouging to kill the consumer, thus repressing the Republican voter. They are China owned after all….they want Dems in charge!
If you buy at $3 and sell at $3, even if market price remains flat or drops you won’t own that gas station very long.
If you don’t raise your price now your business won’t have enough cash to purchase the next delivery
My friend offers the cheapest gas around and he is filthy rich. You actually believe that Gas station owners have no bankroll… like one trucker tank of gas will put them out of business, not accounting for all other forms of income at gas stations? Hilarious.
Not sure where you are, but here in Michigan the wholesaler “suggests” the retail price when they deliver the product to the gas stations. It is truly amazing that all the retailers sell the at the same price.
The independent operators that undercut the retail price get reduced deliveries…..ie, “I need 10,000 gallons”. “Sorry, we only have 3,000 gallons left, sorry about your bad luck. Maybe next time”.
Why would I sell OJ locally for $2 when I can sell it somewhere else for $6? Same with oil. Or are we suggesting that Govt set prices?
We tried that before. It didn’t work then either.
No. We are suggesting that London NOT set the price anymore. (BTW, lower shipping costs allow for lower local pricing)
How much is the transportation gonna add on to that cost?
nah, i think the suggestion might be something like, don’t let the corporates either (a) commoditize local economy into global economy or (b) monopolize and buy all the orange groves, cut down all the ones in your country and then sell you the oranges from their remaining orchard in a foreign country where the market is not matured and production is not as regulated as your country and labor has a choice between poverty or working in the orange grove (less poverty) and you’re willing to pay $6 because that’s the way you’re going to get oranges…and that works until your entire middle class is wiped out and can’t afford to buy anything and non-citizens with EBT cards prefer fast-food over oranges so the last orange grove gets cut down and turned into a synthetic meat factory.
While we are on the beloved breakfast staple…orange juice…lets have a moment on the orange groves… in hurricanes and freezes…
“The primary disease decimating Florida’s orange groves is citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing or HLB), a bacterial infection spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.
First detected in Florida in 2005, this incurable disease has infected nearly 94% of the state’s citrus trees, causing premature fruit drop, bitter green fruit, and eventual tree death”AI
Note the words “incurable disease”…
A long family business in FL, was the Indian River grove. Gone. From what I understand, a good portion of our oranges now come from South America.
One article
https://www.wlrn.org/business/2026-03-23/florida-oranges-citrus-industry-disease
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/109051
While we are on the beloved breakfast staple…orange juice…lets have a moment on the orange groves…thor in hurricanes and freezes…
“The primary disease decimating Florida’s orange groves is citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing or HLB), a bacterial infection spread by the Asian citrus psyllid.
First detected in Florida in 2005, this incurable disease has infected nearly 94% of the state’s citrus trees, causing premature fruit drop, bitter green fruit, and eventual tree death”AI
A long family business in FL, was the Indian River grove. Gone. From what I understand, a good portion of our oranges come from South America.
One article
https://www.wlrn.org/business/2026-03-23/florida-oranges-citrus-industry-disease
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/109051
In short, it is an invasive bug that hitchhiked on some imported nursery stock way back…lots on AI, too much to share…China again?
Sorry, computer wonky…
Yes, China again! All kinds of diseases have come in from China e.g. the billions of ash trees killed by the Chinese Emerald Ash Borer.
“The “Emerald Ash Borer” has spread so widely that it will never be eradicated from North America, and it is highly likely that most North American ash trees will die from this invasive pest.
Individual trees can be treated to kill EAB if the infestation is caught early enough. The most common treatment is with systemic application of the insecticide emamectin benzoate, which needs to be re-applied every few years to keep the insect at bay.”
The author expresses hope that some ash trees will prove immune, whose genes can then be used to replant ash tress. There is also a wasp which could be used as a predator against them.
But billions of ash trees will be dead, and replacing them will take the rest of the century, if it is possible.
See:
https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/feature/8-billion-north-american-ash-trees-risk-emerald-ash-borer
The American Chesnutt wiped out, from some Asian blight.
There are strong theories about bubonic plague and the Spanish flu originating in China.
A point of etiquette: please warn us up front that you’re going to pastedump ai slop before we waste time reading it.
Unless I’m too shortsighted, which is entirely possible, why shouldn’t a state with certain assets (orange groves) allow ist citizens to benefit from that by lower prices than other places pay? It’s local, the transportation charges are not there or are minimal compared to shipping it elsewhere.
It should not be the “states” decision.
why sell lower locally? maybe you can earn same profit for less effort?
War = Death to normal, sensible people.
War – Profits to globalist war pigs that don’t care how many die.
I want cheap energy. That’s really the Golden Age. Everything will follow.
Part of the problem in finding “Florida Orange Juice” or “California Orange Juice” is that so many orchards have been cut down for urban-suburban-exurban sprawl.
“Florida’s Natural Orange Juice” no longer is 100% American: it is now mixed with Mexican or Brazilian or whatever, because there is no longer enough production in Florida.
The manic building now happening in e.g. the Orlando area – which is a nightmare of gridlocked traffic, high prices, degraded environment, failing schools, and a dearth of basics like libraries, parks, etc. – has replaced thousands of acres of orchards and farmland.
See my posting…many groves inf FL have been infected with an ‘incurable’ germ…that affects/kills the tree.
Another case of making ‘new markets’? Controlling commodites? An awful lot of those orange groves were family businesses in Florida.
This is true. It’s called “Citrus Greening.”. No way to get rid of it other than cutting down and burning infected trees. It wipes out the citrus orchards in Orlando and everywhere else in Florida. So sad…
This is exactly what the Prometheus ladies have been saying. The city of London controls commodities through insurance, spot pricing and checkpoints. They never take delivery of one orange, barrel of oil or bag of potash, but control the price of each. What the world is realizing is “who needs the middleman”?
Watch the prosperity take off worldwide with cutting out the middle men adding nothing but costs to transactions everywhere.
Companies can cut out the middle man and go direct to the consumer. Woke Nike tried it and is suffering from more than just DEI.
That is nonsense. All the insurance companies move in lock step controlled in the UK?
Frankly, why would Russia sell anything to Europe in this current age atmosphere?
For a profit and a future. Why did we blow up the Nordstream Pipeline?
Free market pricing which includes the speculative commodities market does have a natural limit, the consumer. If prices get too high the consumer stops purchasing the products
The one factor that has been consistent over the years is that many consumers buy large gas guzzling vehicles and hope that gas prices stay low. Since the 70’s that has not held. The trend is up yet people still buy large pickup trucks and large SUVs. You can hear them loudly complaining when the gas pump hits the limits on their fueling and they have to restart .
Same goes for those who buy the expensive cuts of beef and complain about the prices not thinking that there are less expensive options.
But with that said I would rather have market pricing vs price controls set by government.
Market price for me is simply… am I willing to pay their asking price?
At the end of the day, I decide on how I spend.
So I buy local as much as possible.
That is it. When I purchased automobiles I wanted one that got 30mpg, not 15. Every dollar saved on fuel is real money regardless of the current price.
People can adapt. Finding cheaper options on food and sundry. Cutting back on non essential spending.
My neighbor has five children. He and his wife would have to take two of your 30mpg cars to get to town.
There are larger automobiles that get 30mpg.
Marxists think we, the unwashed masses, have ‘too much stuff’ and ‘too much money’
There is truth to this. However, I already have purchased a high mpg car – and this summer as a commuter it’s still really taking a toll. Also, since the post covid spikes a few years ago, I already shop store brands, generics, and get fewer luxuries like beef (including now, less hamburger). It is still tight and as the energy costs cascade into these grocery and other items (already still high from 2021) – there aren’t too many remaining options to cut back on, and I know I am doing better than others. Supply and demand should govern but it seems out of whack and that as a society we are all just are stuck to have less and hopefully it will remain enough to live on.
Yes I have a gas-guzzling vehicle, and yes I hope gas prices stay low. And with President Trump, they will: “Drill, baby, drill!”
They must be low where you are?
Every hit a deer with your car?
Larger vehicles are measurably safer in impacts with wildlife in those areas where they frequent.
Heck, you have a fair chance to survive a moose in an SUV at lower speeds. That is not going to be near as likely with a much smaller and lighter vehicle.
There are other situations that may come up for individuals where the trade-off for less fuel efficiency is worth it.
I have been fortunate to avoid the deer and elk in my life of driving.
There is always a situation where a bigger car will be better. Ever had a head on collision with a semi?
Normally you can see the semi coming. Deer crossing between cars going opposite directions on a rural road at night, not so much.
I’ve been there.
Picture caption:
“Bankers and bafoons”
Any other ideas?
President Trump has just visited Ireland.
Why when gasoline till recently cost $0.83 per liter in Texas
did it cost over $1.83 in Ireland that imports most from the US?
This looks like the public being exploited.
One word: taxes.
So let me get this straight.
Ranchers don’t set the price of beef.
Slaughter houses/packing plants don’t set the price of beef.
Our grocery stores don’t set the price of beef.
Some greedy jerks on some commodity trading floor, are betting and gambling and we are the suckers at the table. Paying whatever outrageous price they force on us.
Repeat this argument for every thing whose price is going up.
It’s not Milton Freedman too much money chasing too little goods.
It’s not the price of oil driving up every other price.
It’s a bunch of crooks, ripping us off, and coordinating with Democrats who also caused inflation but blame Trump for unaffordability.
To make matters worse, commodities are traded just like stocks. Computers are buying and selling based on algorithms. Throw AI into the equation now. The human trader sees the prices going up or down because the computers have added that artificial margin in the equation. Computers have the advantage because of their speed. They buy and sell in seconds and make money doing it.
More examples of why the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is useless. Get rid of it, less government the better.
You all do not understand markets. In the1970s OPEC controlled 76% of the oil market. You all do remember what happened?
We had shortages and high prices. The more competition the lower the price. The same thing works in all markets and segments. Do any of you remember CTH’s repeated pieces on how Big Ag controls the price of “lemons” and other things and we pay higher prices. Break Up Big Ag, Big Banks, Big Pharma, Big Insurance and all the rest. Break Up Big Retail too. Obama Care was government priced Health Care…..less Care Higher Cost.
Ed McMahon: ‘Oil…Gas…and Orange Juice’
Carnac the Magnificent: ‘How does President Trump maintain his tan in the winter?’ 🙂
I get the orange juice thing. (I can see Putin’s position and agree)
There is risk and good and bad about everything.
Maybe I have allergies now from all these oranges in my state, maybe we all do. There is always the down side, there is risk, maybe the allergies are from all the sprays that go on the oranges, so yeah, the people in the state that grows the oranges should get a lower price, they’ve dealt with the industry, this is common sense.
There is a lot of ‘assumed benefits’ to doing the job.
If you are the bread baker, you are assuming you don’t need to go buy bread every week. The fringe benefit to you baking the bread is that now you yourself get some free bread- this is the incentive.
If you are not going to get any free bread, you may as well not bother.
Many men become a carpenter so they can build their own homes.
People do things because they see a broad range of benefits.. as Sundance explains how they are doing things, the people with the skin in the game are being denied the full range of the benefits they should be getting for doing the jobs, taking the risks, dealing with the negative consequences of the industry.
This is disincentivizing. If the carpenter isn’t allowed to build his own home, then why become one?
If you are the ones that deal with the oil industry and all that entails in your state, yes you should get a better deal on what comes out the ground under you.
And how about China. They are the ones making all the cheap junk, they can’t possibly be paying what we pay for their cheap junk, I assume that since they built the cheap junk they are then getting their own cheap junk cheap and not at the prices we pay- right?
Some of the Chinese stuff I see and buy is very cheap and in reality quite good. It’s a sad reality.
Back to oranges…the uninteded consequences or unpredictable events…hurricanes, freezed and infected groves–with the said commodity dying off.
Cheap junk…at some point, is made to a company’s specifications, to be functional, oh where did Kenmore appliances go?…if people kept returning nonfunctioning coffeemakers, that would impact profits, I would think…
Most of the Billionaires who outsourced to China are close allies of Democrats…. they tend to mark up items 9x or so ….. so the complaints about a little Tariff on Chinese stuff is pure Nonsense. China gets away with being productive because the State is insulated for the most part from Inflation, where as our country has layers and layers of inflation that local Govt’s inflict onto us… both through taxes and bad policies. The more they tax… the more we have to charge, or earn… it’s a common sense problem that Communists refuse to fix, because they are receiving ill gotten gains, or the fruit off of our trees…. if that makes sense.
I promised myself to no longer debate with Linear thinking mindsets because all they ever see is a straight line. A causes B, and B then causes C, always looking for a single “Right” answer.
Why people always get it wrong is they never connect the dots. You can’t Blow S**t up around the globe and then claim speculation or manipulation in the markets.
Every market sets the price when certain things occur in that particular market whether currencies, commodities, energies, bonds, equities, futures, etc.
When you focus domestically, you miss the biggest picture of all – GLOBAL Economics!
So If you don’t trade for a living then all you are doing is pure speculation in which 90% of the population follows.
ECB and Bessent are proving their arrogance and very few can see it!!
And wheat is a global product…much of it comes from Ukraine…
WTF is London doing pricing our commodities? We don’t need traders to tell us the price of anything LMAO.
It’s not just about commodities, they’ve done the same thing with wages.
I can only imagine what deporting 50-100 million illegals would do for wages.
Ditto all the visa scams.
It’s not wages that are the problem, it’s the inflated taxes that are….. You can remove the illegals, but until you fix the local High tax problem…. no wage increase will solve anything. Schools have been issuing bonds that are 10-15-20+ years out…. while counting illegals as students…. that is Fraud on the People. I already posted about a Suburb in Kansas area that borrowed 400 Million on a bond issue, yet 5 months later they were closing down 6 schools because a lack of students. These are Democrat ran conspiracies against the taxpayers.
Leaving aside general inflation as a stealth tax driven by federal policy, those problems are not going to be properly resolved without rounding up and hanging a lot of the crooks where the jurisdictions are lawless.
Wages and benefits are the line on the balance sheets, that can be quickly adjusted when a company sees profits dropping.
“The need for control is a reaction to fear. The financial system, the bankers and the multinational corporations, fears their loss of control.”
Alexis de Tocqueville’s treatise on the methods used by the sovereign power brokers of Europe to control the people is just as relevant today as it was 200 years ago:
“After having thus taken each individual one by one into its powerful hands, and having molded him as it pleases, the sovereign power extends its arms over the entire society; it covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated, minute, and uniform rules, which the most original minds and the most vigorous souls cannot break through to go beyond the crowd; it does not break wills, but it softens them, bends them and directs them; it rarely forces action, but it constantly opposes your acting; it does not destroy, it prevents birth; it does not tyrannize, it hinders, it represses, it enervates, it extinguishes, it stupifies, and finally it reduces each nation to being nothing more than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”
Imagine houses being worth what the materials costs…. and not some bogus A$$ banker giving you a $500K loan and then saying the house is worth that? Or a Tax collector claiming your property is worth 4X what it could sell for just because a new house was built near yours?
Not to be flippant or an anarchist, but this one is from a long time ago. The issues were well known in a variety of spheres.
Robert Herrick, Delight in Disorder, 1648, Hesperides
https://poets.org/poem/delight-disorder
in some ways, we can consider “global” prices in the same way we find insurance.
it’s not based on YOUR liability and risk. it’s based on broad risk and liability.
example: I have zero crashes, and zero speeding tickets. My insurance rates should be some of the lowest possible, given I’ve been driving now for 45 years! But my insurance rates are not low.
in other ways, we can consider “global” prices as similar to the social security and other welfare programs we pay into (taxes).
what you pay helps the next guy.
the problem obviously with this system is that it accomplishes two unsustainable results:
it does not reward good behavior and risk management
it helps to cause people to just stop caring about what it is they do and the effects it has on others.
God Bless America
Allowing someone to Price Oil who has no skin in the game… is the most Corrupt BS we ever allowed. Brent Crude is being used to target our elections….. Hell that’s how Obama got installed…. too.
ALL wars ARE energy wars.
indeed
What this really boils down to is that the availability of cheap energy in Europe is in direct contradiction to the political desires of those in power in the EU. There could be no push for green energy if Russia is allowed to sell oil to European nations at prices which make the green energy uncompetitive. The entire need here is to artificially drive up the prices for Russian oil to force green energy down the throats of Europeans. So, WAR!
I think Europeans are just dumb relating to energy and internal strife leading to wars…. better yet the EU Royals have a Grudge against us and Russia…. that is the problem that has shown it’s ugly face.
Excellent article.
Time for another Revolution!!
Exactly! These tyrannical overlords already have $$$. They LOVE control.
Demanding all-out war means you are ready to die for a cause. You’d prefer the other guy to die, but war means you might die as well. So if that’s truly what the bankers want, then give it to them FIRST. Before any military target, wipe out the bankers first. After you snuff-out all the so-called “elites” in the finance sector, give it a week or two and see what happens. See if the dumbass politicians still have the same appetite for war.
Going after the bankers first and foremost could be a great new strategy for ending conflicts very quickly. It would save a lot of worthwhile lives to simply wipe out the parasites first.
Same cattle, different hat. Nazi Germany was the government waging war on behalf of the government with their eye on Russia’s resources (as well as the rest of the world’s resources). Today global buisnesses in search of money and power who now control “democracy” are directing the government(s) to wage the same war – a banker’s war nonetheless.
FILTHY LIBERALS
I like Putins chances against Europe.
Look at those betas.
bombs away!
Their FEAR is not being able to live lavishly!
The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) is a United States federal law signed by President Bill Clinton on December 21, 2000, that significantly reformed the regulation of financial derivatives.
The legislation primarily aimed to provide legal certainty for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives and modernize the regulatory framework for futures trading under the Commodity Exchange Act.
Key provisions and impacts of the CFMA include:
CFMA is often cited in discussions regarding the 2008 financial crisis, as it allowed the unchecked growth of complex OTC derivatives, such as credit default swaps, which played a significant role in the subsequent market instability.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/house-bill/5660
“The need for control is” is stimulated by greed. It is not a reaction to fear. Quite the opposite; stoking fear in the masses leads to greater control.
Sort of upends the one dimensional dialetic, eh?
So all of this fully applies to the USA as well. It’s not just the EU. We are paying almost $6/gallon for diesel because of things happening outside the USA. Trump has told us many times we have enough of our own oil. If so, why not just keep it here and help Make America Great? The markets won’t allow that and the markets trump Trump.
The people pushing globalization and a one-world system knew generations ago that you can’t do this with a singular fight. You do this by fighting many battles, some of them very quietly. Everything we consume is subject to “market forces” and those forces are outside Trump’s control.
In many ways we have already long lost our sovereignty We just don’t know it yet.
Even diesel has to be refined and States like CA and Colorado have closed refineries because diesel and gasoline cause global warming.
The large Western States are mostly owned by the Federal Government and since things are farther apart in the west fuel is a necessity.
Since the DC bureaucrats have embraced global everything including warming they must limit gasoline and diesel fuel refineries so we have to get on a bus to go to a grocery store. Makes perfect sense.
Bicycles have become very popular here (again)… and e-bikes …I walk a lot, or will again, after TKR surgery tomorrow😁
The mass transit buses in my neck of the woods run on CNG (Compressed natural gas) although the transportation authority does maintain a few diesel/electric hybrid buses as backups and they have a reservation – based service (mostly used by the handicapped) that uses a modified version of a short school bus that run on diesel fuel.
And when Russia sells to EU at a discount, it’s certainly not passed on to the consumer. It’s taxed or skimmed off the top.
Their desire to Control prices, in this case Oil/Gas is about control of the people. Without energy, oil/gas the civilized world would come to a screeching halt. Having the control over that is enormous. It’s always about Power with a lot of money in the deal as well.