Well that was quite the non-event.
After flirting with levels as high as 13,350 the Dow closed lower for the day at 13,291. The big news of the day was oil driving to $80 on the NYMEX as traders in the pit shouted "Go, go, go!" as if they were cheering some kind of football hero rather than bidding for the chance to send another $4M per day to Iran et al.
How can the Fed even consider a rate cut, which may save homeowners $100M per month, when this month's $10 rise in the price of oil is costing US consumers over $200M per day? What kind of idiotic Federal policy could possibly justify the kind of inflation that $9 wheat and $80 oil will bring down on the American people?
$200M per day adds up to $73Bn a year out of the pockets of American consumers, then there are the markups charged right here at home by US refiners that turn a $70 42-gallon barrel of oil into $3 at the pump, that works out to $126 per barrel so after OPEC is done raping you for $70 per barrel, you are handed off to US trader and refiners who pass you around until another $50 comes out of your pocket! So $10 per barrel adds up to $17 at the pump, that's $124Bn our of our pockets IN THE US ALONE for every $10 increase in a barrel of oil.
$124Bn is enough money to lower every mortgage in America by over $100 per month. That's the markup we're paying since just August 23rd, not even a month! Since we decided to reelect The Decider, the charge for oil to EVERY SINGLE US FAMILY has risen $300 per month! Since Bush first took office – $500 per month. Thank goodness they raided the US Treasury to give everyone a tax refund or we might have complained sooner…
This is the "Food and Energy" inflation that is omitted from the Core CPI, the inflation our government pretends doesn't happen but leaves all Americans feeling just a bit poorer despite our President's assurances that "our economy is strong." Our economy is strong, strong enough to support a $600Bn annual oil tax that has been imposed on it
Bush will be on TV tomorrow. Do you think he will be addressing this critical issue that affects every man, woman and child in our Nation or will he continue to tell us that WE are focused on the wrong things?
Just like any good street con, the goal is to distract the mark while you pick his pocket. If you do it well, and the distraction is big enough, then a good scam artist will rob you blind and still stick around to talk to you. Bush's approval ratings are back up a bit with 30% of the people now approving of the war in Iraq, up from 22% in July while 38% of the people feel Bush is doing a good job with the economy. Only 24% of the people want to leave US troops in Iraq more than a year and polls indicate that Clinton or Obama would beat any of the Republican candidates.
I could go on but I already touched on many of these issues last time they jacked up the price of oil, from $51 in January to $65 in April when I wrote "Fear and Loathing in Energy Reporting." At the time I pointed out the massively coordinated effort that was in progress to boost the price of crude and, what do you know, another 5 months, another $15 for a neat $30 rise (60%) for the year – so far!
Now we have the "oil apologists" parading out on the propaganda channel CNBC to tell us that the "true impact on the US consumer is minimal." I suppose it is minimal when the average American family earns $40,000 and the average increase in oil since 2003 is "just" costing them $6,000 per year. A mere 15% of our GNP OVER AND ABOVE the $30 per barrel that was the high end of our historical pricing. What THEY have given us is, not a spike in prices, but a relentless ratcheting up of the base costs, pushing and pushing and testing for our breaking point.
So here we are another $15 into the game and I will ask again, how much more are you willing to take?
