Wow.
Cartels exist and they control the markets completely (especially supply and demand).
"Competition is a sin." John D. Rockefeller
They're not above the market, again, if they raise prices too high then the demand falls & they make fewer profits, in fact, when prices are high, there's incentive for them to produce more & capture more profits but that act of producing more, increases supply & thereby lower prices
The point is that you don't have to raise the price to $1,000 to make record profits (Exxon/Mobil) when you control the market.
Well, what's the point of having a cartel if you can't charge whatever you want? Isn't that the whole purpose of monopolies/cartels? I mean if they
"control the markets" then they should be able to raise it $1000 shouldn't they? If they're making record-profits then wouldn't they be making even more record-profits if they charge $1000?
But they don't do that because they CAN'T do that because demand would collapse drastically & their overall profits would shrink a lot
Do you think you could make untold riches if you knew exactly when a commodity would be shocked and what affect that would have on other commodities as well? Duh. It's the same as raising the price to $10,000, or, as high as you want to raise it.
I'd suggest reading some Austrian Economics instead of conspiratorial garbage, Paul isn so knowledgeable about economics & politics because he has actually been reading a lot of useful stuff regarding those issues so I'd urge you to do them & you might be able to understand the market forces a lot better
Ron Paul advocates the return to a free market, but he most certainly doesn't preach that one exists today.
It doesn't have to be for prices to be determined, the prices are determined by supply & demand no matter what & Paul, who has studied enough Austrian Economics to realizes just this & that's why he doesn't go on a rant about cartels "controlling the market" like many other politicians who have been for years using the cartel's name to distract from REAL cause & that's why he blames where the problem ACTUALLY is - government
Monetary policy is controlled with no oversight. Energy is controlled by regional monopolies. Supply is controlled by covert and overt installation of puppet regimes. Demand is controlled by a media cartel. Your future income has already been determined and divided.
Fed is a COERCIVE monopoly which as I've said before is thievery backed by government, people are FORCED to use it one way or another & that's unjustified
But oil situation is very different, nobody is forcing to buy oil, if you think it's too costly then don't use it or use alternatives if you can, that will automatically put downward pressure on prices as the demand drops, they'll have to lower prices to make profits so don't conflate the two situations; one is COERCIVE, the other is not & nobody is "entitled to cheap oil" or anything else other than their life, liberty & property, it's socialists who think they're entitled to food, education, healthcare & what not just because they exist
Romney is the guy whether they have to stuff ballots, rig the electronic voting machines, black out the rest of the field from public view, blatantly lie in the media, run smear campaigns, pour money into the chosen coffers or other. Or, I'm wrong and there are "free elections" as well as a "free market".
Again, don't confuse issues, I've never said there's a free market, I'm merely trying to explain that irrespective of whether there's free market or not, the prices are determined by supply & demand so long as there's coercive force & the more people like you demand for more government regulation & more government coercion, the less chance there will be of a free market ever existing
I'm astounded at anyone who believes the commodities (or any other) market is dictated by free market supply and demand... truly baffled.
I'm astounded at anyone who thinks central-planning works, it doesn't matter how much the cartelists plan together, ultimately they're self-interested people dictated by market-forces & they constantly try to undercut each other, the more they sell than the others, the more profits they make so they're always trying to bait buyers with a lower price than others, directly or indirectly & that's why they can't charge whatever they want
Every seller is always looking to sell highest it can while buyers looking to buy lowest & this pulling of price back & forth is what creates prices
When you sell your service, you try to secure a reasonable salary for yourself, you don't want to sell yourself too short & at the same time, you don't ask for salary that is beyond what your service is worth because then you'd price yourself out of the market
the commodity markets were set up mainly so that farmers could sell their crops at the elevator ( which headges it off at the board of trade ) , then the farmer could lock in a profit on his labor/costs.
i do think all commodities except for crude and its cracks ( gasoline-heating oil ) are pretty much supply/demand controlled , there is a lot of front running going on floors of the exchanges but they are very short term movers.
overall most commodity mkts work as intended ( i do think margin rates 5-6% is too low , in 1929 stocks margin rates were 10% ) , it is not a free mkt when the supply is controlled ( sort of like the Texas Railroad Commission before OPEC ).
sometimes i think there are mitt r./ rick s. shills on this forum.
Again, I've never said, there's a free market but it doesn't have to be, irrespective of it the prices are always determined by supply & demand, if they raise prices too much above what's optimum, then fewer people buy & profits go down & then they must lower them
And yes, there could be war-hungry Santorum supporters here who'd like to nuke those "evil oil cartels" & they expect government to "regulate" stuff & violate property-rights & use coercion against people & so on
" I don't give a sh!t for your military service, I'm not a war-mongering Republican to applaud you for terrorising innocents & being a tool of the Mlitary-Industrial-Complex & you got paid for it from hard-working taxpayers' money who actually PRODUCE something goods/services rather than just destroying things, if people refused to fight unnecessary wars then so many lives & resources could be saved "
spouting this kind of talk leeds me to believe you are a chicken-hawk like Dr Paul ( ex military ) was talking about. like i said if it were not for people like RP and i you would be spouting your BS in german .
Please try to think a little before you post
Chicken-Hawk = someone who wants wars but has never served
I don't want wars so how does that relate to me?
Further, as I've said, you didn't do it for free, people are self-interested, that's the fundamental principle of free market as well as psychology so don't act like you did a favor to rest of the mankind
Further, if there weren't people producing ACTUAL goods & services in the country then military would have starved to death because government pays the military from the money it steals from the productive people in the economy who produce real goods & services, as opposed to those who simply destroy things
i have supported RP for over 8 yrs , i don't agree with everything he says , i do agree with his closing most of the overseas bases / fed res/ much smaller goverment/get out of the middle east and stay out.
watching the video , Dr Paul was saying about the true value of things being set by the market place ( i would add not by OPEC ).
So you think he's too stupid to not realize that OPEC exists?
When he says "markets", OPEC IS part of the market & he understands that no cartel can charge whatever they want, they're bound by supply & demand & competition of self-interests amongst themselves otherwise he'd have had a rant about "those evil oil cartels" but he doesn't because he doesn't believe in that MYTH peddled US government to take people's attention away from REAL PROBLEM which is government & Fed, which rightly points out
the question about diveratives , the man was partly correct , they were moving them around at 2-3% margin , the fractional system that banks/fed res uses is at 10% . even that is too low.
Did he say "ban the derivatives"? Did he say "regulate the derivatives"? NO, his point was that it's excess of credit created by Fed is THE PROBLEM & if you deal with that then there's no need to ban or "regulate" the derivatives & plus, just let the risk-takers fail if they make wrong choice, just as they should keep the profits if they make the right choice
He understands derivatives in any market are essential tools to manage risk & hence "regulating" them or banning them will disturb market-equilibrium & therefore it's important to focus on the CAUSE aka government & Fed
He even brought Sarbanes-Oxley to say that it was bad move to bring in that "regulation" & therefore, there should be no "regulations" on derivatives either - if you make fraud you'll be brought to justice, if you make losses then you bear them - simple as that
I WILL REPEAT FOR THE NON-BELIVERS ----NO COMMODITY THAT IS CONTROLLED BY A CARTEL SHOULD BE TRADED ON OUR EXCHANGES---
And I will repeat for those believe in the MYTH that no cartel can dictate price, only the supply & demand can dictate it & that's why they sell it at $100, if they could charge more sure they would but they simply CAN'T DICTATE PRICES
And again, government has no right to tell any exchange what they can put on their exchanges unless you believe in socialist/communist belief that government owns everything & everyone & has a right to dictate to everyone An exchange is private property & the owners are free conduct their business as they please just as Paul defended business' right to put up "whites only", "blacks only" or whatever because IT'S THEIR PROPERTY & so long as they aren't violating anyone's life, liberty & property, that should be fine
And no one is "entitled to cheap oil", or anything else other than their life, liberty & property; just like government shouldn't be able to tell you how to live in your house or how much you should sell your goods for, they shouldn't be able to tell that to others
