Lovely.
For example, war at all cost, which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war’s financing, takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that […]

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OPEC is cutting 2.2 million barrels of production a day, and somehow I’m thinking it’s just not going to make that big a difference. Though $4 per gallon gas didn’t persist for long - it does seem to have triggered some sort of cultural change. I’m still seeing people driving the scooters, though regular unleaded […]

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Oil prices down below $50 per barrel today. Get a load of this graphic, from the AP:

Took years to climb the cliff; the plunge has happened in less than five months.
And it’s been so quick we haven’t really wrapped our heads around the lower prices yet. On the same page MSNBC reports this, they include […]

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One of the things that’s been sort of perplexing in the post-election environment is the question: What now?

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Oil down today below $50, for the first time in more than three years.
It’s unreal, the precipitous fall - almost two-thirds since July, a mere four months ago. Has demand really fallen that much - or are we seeing an irrational fear, similar to the irrational “exuberance” which drove oil up to $147 per barrel?
Certainly […]

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 Interesting idea raised by Allen Sloan today, and I’ve read versions of it elsewhere - on occasion, from conservative sources like Charles Krauthammer.
The basic idea: The feds establish a price “floor” for gasoline - perhaps at $3, maybe $4 per gallon - by taxing any drop below that level. Right now, gas taxes would amount […]

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Right. Oil at $60 per barrel? Not for long, perhaps:
Oil prices will rebound to more than $100 a barrel as soon as the world economy recovers, and will exceed $200 by 2030, the International Energy Agency will say in its flagship report to be published next week.
Notes Brad Plumer at TNR:
If that’s true—and, yes, there […]

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“Do you think oil prices are being kept artificially low until the election is over?”
That question came a few weeks back from someone whose opinion on politics I respect pretty thoroughly, who’s not just repeating something he read off a tinfoil hat-type web site. And I thought: Well, no, I mean, the market’s determining the […]

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This is what you might call stream of consciousness campaigning, in which John McCain just blurts out any old thing that comes to mind.
ExxonMobil just announced today that its third-quarter profits totaled $14.83 billion - the biggest quarterly profit in history.
Revenues and net income were also up significantly, but as conservatives always point out whenever […]

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Question: With oil trading today below $64 per barrel, why am I still paying $2.65 per gallon at my local Turkey Hill?

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Dow down 277 as of this writing. Which means as of this moment, we’re below where we were before Monday’s huge surge upward.
Oil down under $68 though - which is of course connected. I’ve heard from a lot of people in recent weeks that now is really the time to buy oil - that however much […]

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Don’t look now, but as oil prices fall, OPEC is thinking about cutting production.

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Be glad you ain’t living in Atlanta:
The effects on motorists have been dramatic. Most service stations in Atlanta are out of gas, with plastic bags placed over the pumps or signs saying “out”.
As a result, drivers are cruising the city hunting for gas — often with a fuel meter needle hovering close to empty. When […]

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Don’t look now, but in places like Atlanta and North Carolina, gas stations are running out of product because of refinery shutdowns due to Ike.

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Oil down to $92 today on Wall Street’s troubles. And of course oil has been slowly sinking in recent weeks due largely to slackening demand.
You know those heating oil companies who tacked on all sorts of surcharges to safeguard you against upwards volatility this year? They’re going to make out like banditos.

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Yikes:
Gasoline prices jumped to unprecedented levels in the wholesale markets Thursday as Hurricane Ike tore across the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to strike Texas and its refineries.
The wholesale price of gasoline ranged from $4 to nearly $5 a gallon at the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of […]

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Hilarious.
A scandal involving sex, drugs and — uh, offshore oil drilling. It’s a strange mix, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for those in Congress pressing to expand oil and gas development off America’s beaches while trying to stave off an election-year rush by Democrats to impose new taxes and royalties on […]

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For a long time, as the price of oil climbed, many analysts claimed that the fundamentals were out of whack. Indeed, demand for oil was increasing, particularly in China; indeed, it appeared that global oil production may “peak,” and may already have done so, which meant global supply may simply be incapable of keeping up with […]

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Look, I’m all for democracy and everything, but given the state of the economy right now how wise is it, exactly, for the Bush administration to promise $1 billion in aid to Georgia, half of it in the next five months?
Notes the LRC blog:
In addition, Dick Cheney is visiting the region to stir up even […]

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Hm. Via Atrios, a story of how Massachusetts teenagers are losing their licenses faster than ever before because of a 2007 state law that suspended teens’ licenses for 90 days after a single speeding ticket; teens must also pay a $500 fee to have the license reinstated.
Draconian? Teens - and their parents - think so:
They complain […]

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