While Putin, the Trump kids, and their fellow billionaires are rubbing their hands in glee, it’s going to be a hell of a year or three for the other 99% rest of us…
This essay is the stuff that America needs to be focused on.
Everyday we as a people get pulled from one issue to another, by people trying to make a living from reporting current event issues; however, we need to keep our focus on this one issue.
Our lives collectively are being controlled by a relative hand full of individuals who apparently have no conscience or basic understanding of right and wrong for anyone but themselves.
They live in a bubble of reality that does not go beyond their wealth holdings and hoardings.
If we are to change this on-going process of these individuals controlling our reality as as people, as communities, and a country, and countries of the world, we need to keep focused on this one issue of incredible inequality and inequity.
It's almost impossible to stay focused on one (or a few) important issues because Trump intentionally keeps adding and reworking new and old issues - with the intent of diverting our attention...and the media,(which should be protecting us) goes along with this charade....making it even more difficult.
NYT ten minutes ago announced the economy grew 2% in the first quarter in face of the war and increased gas prices etc.
Also only a few of those billionaires' companies made money in the first quater. The only sector that is making a killing is energy. IMHO the whole thing is a scam -- energy prices are fixed via OPEC and companies are profiteering.
The price of oil to fill a tanker (crude oil) is primarily determined by global supply and demand, with over 50% of the cost driven by the spot price of crude oil, which is traded in a global market. Key factors influencing this cost include OPEC production decisions, geopolitical events disrupting supply, market sentiment, and the U.S. dollar value.
OPEC is becoming irrelevant, because of Trump's war. the UAE has left OPEC, Nigeria is fixing to. The only oil coming out of the Mid East, is oil being pumped off Kharq Island, into ships that are going to China and India, they pass the Iranian traffic lane near Larak Island, which is monitored by Iran and have to pay a $2 milion toll.
The normal traffic lanes are mined . and re mined by the IRGC's dhows and fast boats.
Maritime Insurance like Lloyds of London rates for shipment out of the Gulf are so high, that commercial tankers don't move.
There are two pipelines that bypass the gulf, one is UAE's pipeline to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, but in normal times it could only carry 1.5 million gallons per day, now it is pumping 2 million. 2 million gallons is one tanker load, So one tanker of oil leaves the Gulf of Oman per day, and Iran has threatened to take out the pumping station.
The other is the Saudi pipeline from it's south oil fields to Yanub, it carries 7 million a day.
However the Suez canal is not deep enough for a fully load tanker, so it has to exit via the strait of Bab al Mandeb, which is under the eye of the Houthis'.
The Houthis have not yet set up a toll station like the Iran's have done at Larak Island., but it is expect that the don't.
Anyway the spot price of oil, the price paid for oil by the buyer, is no longer determined by OPEC.Trump's war killed that. OPEC no longer controls production because of Trump;s war.
By the way, other countries will be leaving OPEC, including Venezuela,and because of Trump's war there is a shift from the Petrodollar to the Petroyuan.
Iran sells its oil, for yuan, and crypto, only stable coin and of all things Trump coin.
Selling for Trump coin is a bribe.to let oil destined for China and India through.
Some 45 ships headed to China, and India have gotten through so far, despite the blockade.
China is dependent on Iranian oil, and has warned Trump.
Meanwhile Iran shares borders with seven countries, and there are caravans of trucks going both ways, carrying oil out, and food and other stuff in.
Every morning, I tune in to Malcolm Nance's podcast expecting to hear the Houthi's have set up their own toll booth. It's a matter of time and I'm surprised they haven't yet.
Another Malclm Nanc fan. So you pay attention, do I get things wrong. If folk want to know what is going on they should subscribe to Black spy substack, also Jacob Kaarsbo, formerly Danish Intelligence and Wajeeh Lion, expert on Saudi Arabia and the Mid east, especially what is going on inside the Kingdom as he has ears there., there is no ideological, religious BS. none of the three would stand for it it.
You are back at it, haven't learned a thing from the suspension. Attacking me saying that I drank the kool aid.
I never said that prices are fair, where do you get that. I am tired of these accusations. I didn't attack you or impute motive or insult you. Stop it, Just stop it
You didn't like me saying that OPEC didn'tfix prices, they don't, the market sets the price, OPEC sets production limits, and the UAE left OPEC, Nigeria is doing so, it is expected that Venezuela is to follows
America is selling off it's oil reserves, to the tune of 6 million gallons a day, to profit the oil companies, Trumps benefactors.
Keith D is on YouTube. He explains economics as he walks through a park. Today, he explained why the UAE's separation from OPEC is significant. He started with Rockefeller, Standard Oil, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the "Seven Sisters." His name is Keith Smith, and he explained crypto the other day.
We are now experiencing chain disaster capitalism--creating disaster after disaster to keep the monster of greed appeased. We get war, destruction, starvation, heat waves, droughts, floods, mass migration, and torture regimes, while the oligarchs just get richer. I'm sure they can hardly wait for the Apocalypse, or the AMOC collapse, whichever comes first.
Remarkably, no one was punished for the 2008 Repugnican recession. In fact, the banksters used some of their bailout bucks (where’d that $ come from?) to reward themselves with BONUSES. Gosh, why’d that happen? We bravely looked forward not backward. Democrats writ large would do well to 86 (which means “get rid of”, not “murder”, unless you’re a mobster) or at least ignore the corporate Democrats/donors/consultants who insist on spinelessly perpetuating inequality. Otherwise, the expected victories this fall, the result of voters rejecting Repugnican behavior, will be perceived as supporting the underlying “business as usual” mantra of the Third Way types. Oh, and when do we get to see the autopsy, Ken? If Dem leadership continues to ignore their base, fails again to throttle SCOTUS, I may have to quit voting while increasing my support of Kentucky’s economy.
The spot price of oil is around $120 a barrel, some places it at $160. The future price varies, whether it is West Texas Intermediate, Brent, Murban (UAE), but the gap is narrowing. The future price is all stock market and that is manipulation by Trump, like declaring that Iran has surrendered, then his sons jump in and place a bet.
Give it three more months and you will be paying $8 a gallon.
Before Trump's war, we exported 2 million gallons per day, and imported oil, to keep the price of oil high and profits rolling in. Now, the oil companies are exporting 4 million barrels a day. which is driving oil prices higher. and immensely profitable for the oil companies. The increase in export is because of the oil shortage.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperating council produced 20% of the worlds oil, now it is a trickle, what gets out goes to China and Pakistan.
Even worse, for humanity, the south Pars gas field is in Persian gulf, it is owned/worked jointly by Oman and Iran. From it we get LNG, helium and urea. Helium is essential in production of microchips, so Korea is a producer of microchips, no helium microchips, and the world runs on microchips. I don't know Taiwan's reserves, but Taiwan is the worlds major producer of advanced microchips.
Urea is a fertilizer, without urea, corn (maize) does not produce ears, only silage), other crops are depending on the fertilizer from LNG. We are looking at world wide famine, which means mass migration from the global south to the global north. And in America food prices like never seen before. as the US is a net exporter of natural gas, which will raise the price of food. especially maize.
Give it three months, maybe 6. I paid $6.20 a gallon, three days ago to fill up same gas cans.
Which is all the more reason, as far as possible, to push for more EV's, solar, wind, and other alternatives, as well as population control and a decreased personal CO 2 footprint.
None of that will happen. Just the opposite. Trump is an enemy of the U.S. in fact he is a traitor. He was on the phone with Putin for an hour, got off the phone and issued orders to draw down our troops in Germany, something Russia has been trying to do since 1945.
He has declared war on clean energy, and his policies and actions including the war on Iran are making big money for Trump, his family and friends.
He doesn't want to end the blockade either, the blockade is making big money for his family and friends.. In fact he has shifted his demands on Iran from opening the straits to giving up their uranium
Sadly, although I wish and campaign for it (cessation of fossil fuel usage and alternative rise,) I have to agree that it's not likely to happen - or at least not to the extent where it will make much of a difference.
We passed the tipping point of 350ppm back in the lat 1980's. It is downhill and irreversible now. Like a snowball rolling down hill.
You know as well as I, of evidence right before our eyes.
I live in the Pacific NW, and we used to have snow around thanksgiving and again in February. No snow this year, and in February I was outside in my T shirt. Rain, like an apocalypse, I couldn't mow until mid April, and some parts of my property were still soggy. I have a lot of property and mow with a Toro Zero turn, tractor wheels. I chewed up some turf.
The coldest day for me, where I live, was 29 degrees, but only for one or two days.
Those in live in the South west or the south are going to be scorched this year
Winter storms in the south, blizzards in spring and still they don't believe in global warming, because Rupert Murdoch tells them what to think, what to believe and what not to believe.
Just like the antivaxx crowd that died from or suffer long term COVID, good for them. I am thrilled.
Similar experience in same time frame, except I had just moved into RM foothills above Denver in '80, and kept records of declining snowfall, increased temps. There were increased deer and elk, eating the foliage and bark of my aspen trees, and pine beetles were already doing a number on the Ponderosa, many of which had to be removed and treated. Even then, as you have mentioned, the GW turning point may have come and gone .
Gaia is blasting out with a bull horn, stop it, you are screwing yourselves, but idiots only listen to propaganda that reinforces their anger, hatred, fears and angst.
And the people that are screwing them are funding the propaganda, how stupid can people be? Question was rhetorical
If they don't care I don't care, hell I am 87 and have it damn good, my biggest worry is that I might forget to give my senior cat her daily puff of Flixotide.
I hope that some states and some the transporation industry users sue for price fixing. Last week I laid out how the bottle neck is at the refinery level in this country, the base line is $54 per gallon and the markups are unconscionable.
Baseline for refined gas is $54 a gallon? And we buy it for $4 a gallon, why the gas companies are downright altruistic taking a $50 a gallon loss.
Cracking towers produce: kerosene, diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel, along with lighter byproducts like propane and butane,
Actually diesel comes up before gasoline and takes less energy to produce, hence it is cheaper to produce, so it should be, and was cheaper at the pump, until the public caught on and started to buy diesel cars like the VW Rabbit, and even GM converted a gas engine into diesel for the Cadillac (big mistake, it didn't work), in response the oil copanies raised the price of diesel. and the consumer shifted back to gas.
I see you mistyped, I do that sometimes, instead of $54 a ga;llon you meant $54 a barrel.
Trump has been manipulating the futures market. He makes a tweet and the futures price drops, it is irrational,
The spot price is headed to $200 a barrel and the future price is headed down, and somebody or bodies are making a killing. Don Jr, Eric and Barron my guess.
Some say Barron is already a multi millionaire, off the stock market alone. Polymarket is his friend.
William, Thanks for elucidating Nance's video. You're a great teacher. It makes more sense now, since I'm not familiar with the geography and I cannot always follow his arguments.
A purpose of wars is to teach Americans geography. I now know the names of some Islands in the Persian (Arabian) gulf Qeshm, Kharaq, Larak, Abu Musa, Litle Tunh, Big Tunh I know where they are located in the Persian/Arabian gulf, I know the maritime traffic patterns/lanes. I know where Oman and Bahrain is, the Gulf of Oman, the oil ports in the Mideast and Saudi Arabia, and the that the strait between Yemen and Somalia is called the Bab al Mandab is between 16 and 20 miles wide/
Jacob Kaarsbo, the ret Danish intelligence agent, always has maps on the wall behind him, pay attention to those maps . Malcolm does as well, on occasions,as does Wajeeh.
In a nutshell.Kharq island is the Iranian pumping station, it is at the far end of the Gulf of Persia, under the sight (with binoculars) of the IRGC holed up in the Zagros mountains, which are in the South West and run along the Persian Gulf.
Chinese bound tankers fill up at Kharq then it is 410 ,miles to Qesm and Larak Island.
The average speed of an oil tanker is between 10 and 16 knots, it will take almost 2 days to make the journey and all of the time they are being watched by the Iranians, finally the reach Quesm Island, it is large and looks like a Shark, Larak Island sits at the mouth of the shark as if it is going to eat it.
The strait of Hormuz is about 24 miles wide. In normal times there is a traffic lane, one for east bound traffic, one for west bound traffic, but those lanes are now mined.
So the traffic lane past Qeshm/Larak island is north away from the standard traffic lane.
Trumps blockade, actually constricts the flow of oil, and exacerbates the situation, but it makes money for the Trump family, friends and petro cabal.
Oil is still getting out, Iranian oil for china, and the UAE is pumping oil through their pipeline to the port of Fujairah on the gulf of Oman, but only 1.5 to 2 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia has a pipeline across the desert to Yanub on the Red Sea that carries 7 million barrels per day.
Finally, Iran and Pakistan share a border, and there is long trail of trucks carrying food and goods from Pakistan and oil to Pakistan from Iran.,the oil is then loaded onto tankers at the port of Karachi, Gwadar in the future.
Since the spot price of oil in that region is $160 a barrel or more, everyone including the Iranians are making a killing. The Iranians also charge $2 million per tanker for an easy pass, paid in Yuan, or Trump coin,
Trump is in no hurry to open the strait as he is making out like a bandit, as is his family and friends, on both the futures market and on the actual market.
What is limiting maritime traffic in the Gulf is maritime Insurance, ships just can't get it unless they use the Iranian route past Queshm and Larak and even then it is at premium, and of course the insurance and toll are factored into the cost of oil
.Typically, the purchasing entity (consignee), such as a refinery, oil company, or trading firm, holds the title while the oil is in transit
The seller and consignee either contract or pay a spot price, but the buyer pays the cost of transportation which includes insurance and tolls, all of this is factored into the price of refined products as is the cost of refining,, and land transportation.
Thanks for your informative reply. After watching Nance, who as you say often shows where these Islands are, I have learned more about the geography of Iran than I ever knew. However, I would never be able to pass a geography test on it as you most notably are able t do as well as your ability to connect the dots. You have now provided me with an excellent manual as to how to follow the events about trump's Iran war with more understanding.
No nonsense. I steer away from the ex pat sources, they have an agenda, to use the United States to overthrow the mullahs, no matter the cost, they are in it for themselves, like the Shah's son Reza Pahlavi..
Latest info is that the anti regime protests and mentality has disappeared because of Trump's bombardment, and his threat to bomb the country back into the stone age.
One couldn't be blamed for thinking that Trump's real agenda is to turn this country into a third world country, while enriching himself, family and friends.
Because he is doing a great job of just that. We are now an international pariah, a client of Putin and Netanyahu, and our economy is in a downward spiral, I give it 3 months, 6 months top before the pain is really felt., by then we will be a surveillance/police state for sure.
They have the tools. FBI,DHS,NSA, Palantir, anthropic, ICE
My naive may be showing, but I think you might be underestimating the power of the people. Look what happened to ORBAN in a country he totally controlled. Of course, I hope you're wrong. We need an overwhelming response by voters at the midterms.
Hungary may look like the United States, but there are big differenes
For one America is a two party state, the rest of the worlds democracies are parliamentatian
Peter Magyar is no progressive or liberal, he came from the Fidez party,
Péter Magyar was a "key but discreet insider" and loyal technocrat within the Hungarian Fidesz system for over a decade
Orban came to power because Hungary was being swamped with Muslim refugees, he promised to build a fence, he did, and deport the refugees, he fulfilled his promise. Magyar has the same policy towards Muslims.
He differs from Orban as regards Putin and Russia. Orban obstructed NATO and the EU from helping Ukraine. Magyar has reversed course.
Orban waged war on LGBT .Péter Magyar's stance on LGBTQ+ rights is defined by a "strongly conservative" approach, prioritizing economic issues over social agendas while supporting the right to assembly. Although he has pledged to uphold equal rights and reverse the 2025 Pride parade ban, he has not committed to repealing Viktor Orbán’s 2021 “child protection” law banning LGBTQ+ content for minors.
In short Orban was a kleptocrat and Hungary was his and his family and friends piggy bank, and the Hungarians had enough, and they had a memory of life under Russia (Remember the Hungarian uprising of 1956)
Anyway Magyar was not a shift to the left, Hungary is very Christian nation, with all of it's taboos, sins, bigotry and expectations, unlike the United States, which was, until MAGA, a secular, multi religious nation. Unless stopped it will become a Judeo Christian theocracy., and then the religious wars will start
What makes the current nosedive more tariffying (sic) is that the entire administration is staffed by incompetent suck-ups led by a demented old fool with no impulse control and the delusion that he is the next emperor of the world. In other words, we have no government capable of putting Humpty Trumpty back together again. Worst of all, we can see the crash coming, but there is no place for any of us to run to avoid the catastrophe, because it will be global.
This raises an uneasy question as to why, unlike previous economic disasters, we could see this one coming well in advance, but let it happen anyway. In 2026, we might well be celebrating the failure of a 250-year experiment.
For Trump's purposes, his administration is not made up of incompetent suck-ups, but rich thieves and profiteers uniquely suited to their jobs, which is to emasculate or destroy those agencies that are supposed to be helpful to the public.
Normally I would agree with you; however, even when Trump's incompetent sycophants try to weaponize the government, their incompetence leads to failure.
For example, Jeanine Pirro is a classic TV Fox cosplay legal expert who has had all her high-profile cases tossed out of court. SECDEF Hegseth fired all his competent Generals and Admirals, and now he is losing a war with a country the size of Alaska. Trump's Treasury secty cannot get inflation under control. Trump's FAA Administrator has had more high-profile aircraft collisions than most presidents have in an entire administration, and, he cannot even achieve necessary staffing levels. HHS Secty Wormbrain has single-handedly restored childhood measles to epidemic status while he promotes babushka cures for everything. Dept of Agriculture is sending his staff offices out of DC to the boonies during an agricultural emergency due to climate change and no fertilizer because of DOW's failure in Iran. Trump's tariffs have alienated every nation on the planet, and he has insulted every US ally in the world UK, DE, and Canada especially, because his toady Secty of State cannot stop him and is clueless how to restore relations.
Yes, the next crash is coming. I must point out, however, that when Obama took office and had a chance to prosecute the money boys who destroyed so many Americans' lives, he mumbled something about needing a financial system and let them ALL off.
And when OCCUPY WALL STREET took to the streets, Obama did NOT get on board, from a legal and regulatory position, and join forces with the populace's sentiment to take corrective action.
He did nothing, and within a year, the right wing created the TEA PARTY movement to corral and subvert Americans' anger and give birth to the MAGA infection.
So who's to blame, really? The people we KNOW are only in it for themselves; or the people who were SUPPOSED TO BE the good guys.
Nor did Biden or his attorney general (whose name I intentionally unremember)help in that regard, turning their respective cheek to every insult to democracy instigated and propagated by Trump and his cronies.
I cannot wish this, because of my late in life religious faith and because I cannot sink to the level of the criminally wealthy, but I have to ask one question. When will some the world's poor, disfranchised, disposable people, faced with daily and widespread media stories contrasting their lives with those of the morbidly rich, seeing no future for themselves or their families and having nothing really to lose, say ENOUGH and go Mangione on some of these horrors? If that happens, it will probably just result in full on fascism everywhere, because with 8 billion people, the morbidly rich have enough money to pay enough thugs to terrorize the rest of us.
But is there any likely alternative? The ballot box? IF we get one in November in this country, will it matter? Hungary says it could. We are not Hungary. I do not trust our people to be that sane. Too many have been made ignorant by intent on the part of the morbidly rich, their biases churned and reinforced by MAGAmedia.
Every day proves over and over again the absolute truth of 1 Timothy 6:10 that "the love of money is the root of all evil." Only when we as a species learn moderation, and that happiness is not to be found in mountains of gold or what it can buy, will we deserve to survive into the future. If we do not, then our extinction will prove a benefit to all other species and the planet.
I say that with profound sadness, as my greatest joy in the end of what is now a 78 year life is our adorable, impish grandson, more like my son due to unfortunate circumstances. He has had the idyllic childhood neither I, my wife, his Mom or his aunts ever had. But he and his generation face a future that is far darker than the one we faced at his age. So bleak, so dystopian, so uncertain that despite the loss of any joy in my life it would have represented, I almost wish he had never been born. That I should think that says all that needs saying about how bad I think things have become, and how much worse I think they are going to be.
Too bad the people Thom needs to reach are too ideologically blinded to hear him, or too poorly educated to read and digest the facts he so relentlessly puts forth in what he writes.
Trump is stealing from the American consumers through higher gas prices. He said America was becoming really rich because we produce a great amount of oil, except it’s Trump’s donors and oil producers who are getting rich from higher oil prices. The American consumers are already paying for this war. It is time for US oil producers to fund this war and end their price windfall. In World War II, the US raised taxes to fund the War and we had excess profit taxes to stop War Profiteers.
Congress needs to do the same thing today: immediately impose excess profit taxes, capture all excess profits on oil production caused by the war. Any increase in the oil price above the price that existed before the US/Israeli attack on Iran should be considered excess profit. A 100% tax on these excess profits should be imposed. These taxes should go directly to fund replacement of US weapons used in the war on Iran, instead of further stressing the American taxpayer.
This will remove any incentive to continue the war against Iran. Also, Congress needs to investigate who purchased oil futures before the attack on Iran began. Congress has to take the lead to eliminate these windfall profits and go after War Profiteers.
"Fully 95 percent of all of the income increases in the country were seized by the top 1 percent of Americans during that period."
Wow. Just WOW.
I am 84, an AF 1960s vet and I spent 4 years in the intelligence area for THIS? No, I didn't. Damn, I thought we were waking people up yesterday with the NK V show. I got a feeling it is too late, folks. I know it is for me; my string is getting short.
Government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.
This essay is the stuff that America needs to be focused on.
Everyday we as a people get pulled from one issue to another, by people trying to make a living from reporting current event issues; however, we need to keep our focus on this one issue.
Our lives collectively are being controlled by a relative hand full of individuals who apparently have no conscience or basic understanding of right and wrong for anyone but themselves.
They live in a bubble of reality that does not go beyond their wealth holdings and hoardings.
If we are to change this on-going process of these individuals controlling our reality as as people, as communities, and a country, and countries of the world, we need to keep focused on this one issue of incredible inequality and inequity.
It's almost impossible to stay focused on one (or a few) important issues because Trump intentionally keeps adding and reworking new and old issues - with the intent of diverting our attention...and the media,(which should be protecting us) goes along with this charade....making it even more difficult.
It makes me want to scream!! People! Wake! Up! Fight! March! Stop this corrupt evil fascist regime!
NYT ten minutes ago announced the economy grew 2% in the first quarter in face of the war and increased gas prices etc.
Also only a few of those billionaires' companies made money in the first quater. The only sector that is making a killing is energy. IMHO the whole thing is a scam -- energy prices are fixed via OPEC and companies are profiteering.
The price of oil to fill a tanker (crude oil) is primarily determined by global supply and demand, with over 50% of the cost driven by the spot price of crude oil, which is traded in a global market. Key factors influencing this cost include OPEC production decisions, geopolitical events disrupting supply, market sentiment, and the U.S. dollar value.
OPEC is becoming irrelevant, because of Trump's war. the UAE has left OPEC, Nigeria is fixing to. The only oil coming out of the Mid East, is oil being pumped off Kharq Island, into ships that are going to China and India, they pass the Iranian traffic lane near Larak Island, which is monitored by Iran and have to pay a $2 milion toll.
The normal traffic lanes are mined . and re mined by the IRGC's dhows and fast boats.
Maritime Insurance like Lloyds of London rates for shipment out of the Gulf are so high, that commercial tankers don't move.
There are two pipelines that bypass the gulf, one is UAE's pipeline to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, but in normal times it could only carry 1.5 million gallons per day, now it is pumping 2 million. 2 million gallons is one tanker load, So one tanker of oil leaves the Gulf of Oman per day, and Iran has threatened to take out the pumping station.
The other is the Saudi pipeline from it's south oil fields to Yanub, it carries 7 million a day.
However the Suez canal is not deep enough for a fully load tanker, so it has to exit via the strait of Bab al Mandeb, which is under the eye of the Houthis'.
The Houthis have not yet set up a toll station like the Iran's have done at Larak Island., but it is expect that the don't.
Anyway the spot price of oil, the price paid for oil by the buyer, is no longer determined by OPEC.Trump's war killed that. OPEC no longer controls production because of Trump;s war.
By the way, other countries will be leaving OPEC, including Venezuela,and because of Trump's war there is a shift from the Petrodollar to the Petroyuan.
Iran sells its oil, for yuan, and crypto, only stable coin and of all things Trump coin.
Selling for Trump coin is a bribe.to let oil destined for China and India through.
Some 45 ships headed to China, and India have gotten through so far, despite the blockade.
China is dependent on Iranian oil, and has warned Trump.
Meanwhile Iran shares borders with seven countries, and there are caravans of trucks going both ways, carrying oil out, and food and other stuff in.
T
Every morning, I tune in to Malcolm Nance's podcast expecting to hear the Houthi's have set up their own toll booth. It's a matter of time and I'm surprised they haven't yet.
Another Malclm Nanc fan. So you pay attention, do I get things wrong. If folk want to know what is going on they should subscribe to Black spy substack, also Jacob Kaarsbo, formerly Danish Intelligence and Wajeeh Lion, expert on Saudi Arabia and the Mid east, especially what is going on inside the Kingdom as he has ears there., there is no ideological, religious BS. none of the three would stand for it it.
You drank the kool aid if you think that prices are fair. Once upon a time, fixing prices was a bipartisan issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Oil_Producing_and_Exporting_Cartels_Act
You are back at it, haven't learned a thing from the suspension. Attacking me saying that I drank the kool aid.
I never said that prices are fair, where do you get that. I am tired of these accusations. I didn't attack you or impute motive or insult you. Stop it, Just stop it
You didn't like me saying that OPEC didn'tfix prices, they don't, the market sets the price, OPEC sets production limits, and the UAE left OPEC, Nigeria is doing so, it is expected that Venezuela is to follows
America is selling off it's oil reserves, to the tune of 6 million gallons a day, to profit the oil companies, Trumps benefactors.
BTW gas prices dropped today in Baghdad By the Sea -- under $4.
Maybe market manipulation, after all Florida is tres importante to Trump
Apparently, the exiting OPEC in the UAE has relaxed the oil market.
Very interesting post. Thanks
Keith D is on YouTube. He explains economics as he walks through a park. Today, he explained why the UAE's separation from OPEC is significant. He started with Rockefeller, Standard Oil, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and the "Seven Sisters." His name is Keith Smith, and he explained crypto the other day.
We are now experiencing chain disaster capitalism--creating disaster after disaster to keep the monster of greed appeased. We get war, destruction, starvation, heat waves, droughts, floods, mass migration, and torture regimes, while the oligarchs just get richer. I'm sure they can hardly wait for the Apocalypse, or the AMOC collapse, whichever comes first.
Remarkably, no one was punished for the 2008 Repugnican recession. In fact, the banksters used some of their bailout bucks (where’d that $ come from?) to reward themselves with BONUSES. Gosh, why’d that happen? We bravely looked forward not backward. Democrats writ large would do well to 86 (which means “get rid of”, not “murder”, unless you’re a mobster) or at least ignore the corporate Democrats/donors/consultants who insist on spinelessly perpetuating inequality. Otherwise, the expected victories this fall, the result of voters rejecting Repugnican behavior, will be perceived as supporting the underlying “business as usual” mantra of the Third Way types. Oh, and when do we get to see the autopsy, Ken? If Dem leadership continues to ignore their base, fails again to throttle SCOTUS, I may have to quit voting while increasing my support of Kentucky’s economy.
The spot price of oil is around $120 a barrel, some places it at $160. The future price varies, whether it is West Texas Intermediate, Brent, Murban (UAE), but the gap is narrowing. The future price is all stock market and that is manipulation by Trump, like declaring that Iran has surrendered, then his sons jump in and place a bet.
Give it three more months and you will be paying $8 a gallon.
Before Trump's war, we exported 2 million gallons per day, and imported oil, to keep the price of oil high and profits rolling in. Now, the oil companies are exporting 4 million barrels a day. which is driving oil prices higher. and immensely profitable for the oil companies. The increase in export is because of the oil shortage.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperating council produced 20% of the worlds oil, now it is a trickle, what gets out goes to China and Pakistan.
Even worse, for humanity, the south Pars gas field is in Persian gulf, it is owned/worked jointly by Oman and Iran. From it we get LNG, helium and urea. Helium is essential in production of microchips, so Korea is a producer of microchips, no helium microchips, and the world runs on microchips. I don't know Taiwan's reserves, but Taiwan is the worlds major producer of advanced microchips.
Urea is a fertilizer, without urea, corn (maize) does not produce ears, only silage), other crops are depending on the fertilizer from LNG. We are looking at world wide famine, which means mass migration from the global south to the global north. And in America food prices like never seen before. as the US is a net exporter of natural gas, which will raise the price of food. especially maize.
Give it three months, maybe 6. I paid $6.20 a gallon, three days ago to fill up same gas cans.
Which is all the more reason, as far as possible, to push for more EV's, solar, wind, and other alternatives, as well as population control and a decreased personal CO 2 footprint.
None of that will happen. Just the opposite. Trump is an enemy of the U.S. in fact he is a traitor. He was on the phone with Putin for an hour, got off the phone and issued orders to draw down our troops in Germany, something Russia has been trying to do since 1945.
He has declared war on clean energy, and his policies and actions including the war on Iran are making big money for Trump, his family and friends.
He doesn't want to end the blockade either, the blockade is making big money for his family and friends.. In fact he has shifted his demands on Iran from opening the straits to giving up their uranium
And that will never happen.
Sadly, although I wish and campaign for it (cessation of fossil fuel usage and alternative rise,) I have to agree that it's not likely to happen - or at least not to the extent where it will make much of a difference.
We passed the tipping point of 350ppm back in the lat 1980's. It is downhill and irreversible now. Like a snowball rolling down hill.
You know as well as I, of evidence right before our eyes.
I live in the Pacific NW, and we used to have snow around thanksgiving and again in February. No snow this year, and in February I was outside in my T shirt. Rain, like an apocalypse, I couldn't mow until mid April, and some parts of my property were still soggy. I have a lot of property and mow with a Toro Zero turn, tractor wheels. I chewed up some turf.
The coldest day for me, where I live, was 29 degrees, but only for one or two days.
Those in live in the South west or the south are going to be scorched this year
Winter storms in the south, blizzards in spring and still they don't believe in global warming, because Rupert Murdoch tells them what to think, what to believe and what not to believe.
Just like the antivaxx crowd that died from or suffer long term COVID, good for them. I am thrilled.
Similar experience in same time frame, except I had just moved into RM foothills above Denver in '80, and kept records of declining snowfall, increased temps. There were increased deer and elk, eating the foliage and bark of my aspen trees, and pine beetles were already doing a number on the Ponderosa, many of which had to be removed and treated. Even then, as you have mentioned, the GW turning point may have come and gone .
Gaia is blasting out with a bull horn, stop it, you are screwing yourselves, but idiots only listen to propaganda that reinforces their anger, hatred, fears and angst.
And the people that are screwing them are funding the propaganda, how stupid can people be? Question was rhetorical
If they don't care I don't care, hell I am 87 and have it damn good, my biggest worry is that I might forget to give my senior cat her daily puff of Flixotide.
I hope that some states and some the transporation industry users sue for price fixing. Last week I laid out how the bottle neck is at the refinery level in this country, the base line is $54 per gallon and the markups are unconscionable.
Baseline for refined gas is $54 a gallon? And we buy it for $4 a gallon, why the gas companies are downright altruistic taking a $50 a gallon loss.
Cracking towers produce: kerosene, diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel, along with lighter byproducts like propane and butane,
Actually diesel comes up before gasoline and takes less energy to produce, hence it is cheaper to produce, so it should be, and was cheaper at the pump, until the public caught on and started to buy diesel cars like the VW Rabbit, and even GM converted a gas engine into diesel for the Cadillac (big mistake, it didn't work), in response the oil copanies raised the price of diesel. and the consumer shifted back to gas.
$54 a barrel. That's what the refineries pay for it. I posted all this last week.
Where big money is made is the vig beteween the present and future value. Brent dropped almost $4 today.... will ripple into lower futures in June....
I'd hope that states like yours is looking into it.....
I see you mistyped, I do that sometimes, instead of $54 a ga;llon you meant $54 a barrel.
Trump has been manipulating the futures market. He makes a tweet and the futures price drops, it is irrational,
The spot price is headed to $200 a barrel and the future price is headed down, and somebody or bodies are making a killing. Don Jr, Eric and Barron my guess.
Some say Barron is already a multi millionaire, off the stock market alone. Polymarket is his friend.
I loved my Diesel Rabbit.
My wife had one, until about 1993 when they did something to the diesel that fouled up her Rabbit.
William, Thanks for elucidating Nance's video. You're a great teacher. It makes more sense now, since I'm not familiar with the geography and I cannot always follow his arguments.
A purpose of wars is to teach Americans geography. I now know the names of some Islands in the Persian (Arabian) gulf Qeshm, Kharaq, Larak, Abu Musa, Litle Tunh, Big Tunh I know where they are located in the Persian/Arabian gulf, I know the maritime traffic patterns/lanes. I know where Oman and Bahrain is, the Gulf of Oman, the oil ports in the Mideast and Saudi Arabia, and the that the strait between Yemen and Somalia is called the Bab al Mandab is between 16 and 20 miles wide/
Jacob Kaarsbo, the ret Danish intelligence agent, always has maps on the wall behind him, pay attention to those maps . Malcolm does as well, on occasions,as does Wajeeh.
In a nutshell.Kharq island is the Iranian pumping station, it is at the far end of the Gulf of Persia, under the sight (with binoculars) of the IRGC holed up in the Zagros mountains, which are in the South West and run along the Persian Gulf.
Chinese bound tankers fill up at Kharq then it is 410 ,miles to Qesm and Larak Island.
The average speed of an oil tanker is between 10 and 16 knots, it will take almost 2 days to make the journey and all of the time they are being watched by the Iranians, finally the reach Quesm Island, it is large and looks like a Shark, Larak Island sits at the mouth of the shark as if it is going to eat it.
The strait of Hormuz is about 24 miles wide. In normal times there is a traffic lane, one for east bound traffic, one for west bound traffic, but those lanes are now mined.
So the traffic lane past Qeshm/Larak island is north away from the standard traffic lane.
Trumps blockade, actually constricts the flow of oil, and exacerbates the situation, but it makes money for the Trump family, friends and petro cabal.
Oil is still getting out, Iranian oil for china, and the UAE is pumping oil through their pipeline to the port of Fujairah on the gulf of Oman, but only 1.5 to 2 million barrels a day. Saudi Arabia has a pipeline across the desert to Yanub on the Red Sea that carries 7 million barrels per day.
Finally, Iran and Pakistan share a border, and there is long trail of trucks carrying food and goods from Pakistan and oil to Pakistan from Iran.,the oil is then loaded onto tankers at the port of Karachi, Gwadar in the future.
Since the spot price of oil in that region is $160 a barrel or more, everyone including the Iranians are making a killing. The Iranians also charge $2 million per tanker for an easy pass, paid in Yuan, or Trump coin,
Trump is in no hurry to open the strait as he is making out like a bandit, as is his family and friends, on both the futures market and on the actual market.
What is limiting maritime traffic in the Gulf is maritime Insurance, ships just can't get it unless they use the Iranian route past Queshm and Larak and even then it is at premium, and of course the insurance and toll are factored into the cost of oil
.Typically, the purchasing entity (consignee), such as a refinery, oil company, or trading firm, holds the title while the oil is in transit
The seller and consignee either contract or pay a spot price, but the buyer pays the cost of transportation which includes insurance and tolls, all of this is factored into the price of refined products as is the cost of refining,, and land transportation.
Thanks for your informative reply. After watching Nance, who as you say often shows where these Islands are, I have learned more about the geography of Iran than I ever knew. However, I would never be able to pass a geography test on it as you most notably are able t do as well as your ability to connect the dots. You have now provided me with an excellent manual as to how to follow the events about trump's Iran war with more understanding.
Another good source is Alistaire Crooke, like this one, Empowering Iran
https://conflictsforum.substack.com/p/empowering-iran-alastair-crooke-and
No nonsense. I steer away from the ex pat sources, they have an agenda, to use the United States to overthrow the mullahs, no matter the cost, they are in it for themselves, like the Shah's son Reza Pahlavi..
Latest info is that the anti regime protests and mentality has disappeared because of Trump's bombardment, and his threat to bomb the country back into the stone age.
One couldn't be blamed for thinking that Trump's real agenda is to turn this country into a third world country, while enriching himself, family and friends.
Because he is doing a great job of just that. We are now an international pariah, a client of Putin and Netanyahu, and our economy is in a downward spiral, I give it 3 months, 6 months top before the pain is really felt., by then we will be a surveillance/police state for sure.
They have the tools. FBI,DHS,NSA, Palantir, anthropic, ICE
My naive may be showing, but I think you might be underestimating the power of the people. Look what happened to ORBAN in a country he totally controlled. Of course, I hope you're wrong. We need an overwhelming response by voters at the midterms.
Hungary may look like the United States, but there are big differenes
For one America is a two party state, the rest of the worlds democracies are parliamentatian
Peter Magyar is no progressive or liberal, he came from the Fidez party,
Péter Magyar was a "key but discreet insider" and loyal technocrat within the Hungarian Fidesz system for over a decade
Orban came to power because Hungary was being swamped with Muslim refugees, he promised to build a fence, he did, and deport the refugees, he fulfilled his promise. Magyar has the same policy towards Muslims.
He differs from Orban as regards Putin and Russia. Orban obstructed NATO and the EU from helping Ukraine. Magyar has reversed course.
Orban waged war on LGBT .Péter Magyar's stance on LGBTQ+ rights is defined by a "strongly conservative" approach, prioritizing economic issues over social agendas while supporting the right to assembly. Although he has pledged to uphold equal rights and reverse the 2025 Pride parade ban, he has not committed to repealing Viktor Orbán’s 2021 “child protection” law banning LGBTQ+ content for minors.
In short Orban was a kleptocrat and Hungary was his and his family and friends piggy bank, and the Hungarians had enough, and they had a memory of life under Russia (Remember the Hungarian uprising of 1956)
Anyway Magyar was not a shift to the left, Hungary is very Christian nation, with all of it's taboos, sins, bigotry and expectations, unlike the United States, which was, until MAGA, a secular, multi religious nation. Unless stopped it will become a Judeo Christian theocracy., and then the religious wars will start
Thank you for the Conflict forum link. It has been invaluable in deciphering what the US faces as I write.this reply.
What makes the current nosedive more tariffying (sic) is that the entire administration is staffed by incompetent suck-ups led by a demented old fool with no impulse control and the delusion that he is the next emperor of the world. In other words, we have no government capable of putting Humpty Trumpty back together again. Worst of all, we can see the crash coming, but there is no place for any of us to run to avoid the catastrophe, because it will be global.
This raises an uneasy question as to why, unlike previous economic disasters, we could see this one coming well in advance, but let it happen anyway. In 2026, we might well be celebrating the failure of a 250-year experiment.
For Trump's purposes, his administration is not made up of incompetent suck-ups, but rich thieves and profiteers uniquely suited to their jobs, which is to emasculate or destroy those agencies that are supposed to be helpful to the public.
Normally I would agree with you; however, even when Trump's incompetent sycophants try to weaponize the government, their incompetence leads to failure.
For example, Jeanine Pirro is a classic TV Fox cosplay legal expert who has had all her high-profile cases tossed out of court. SECDEF Hegseth fired all his competent Generals and Admirals, and now he is losing a war with a country the size of Alaska. Trump's Treasury secty cannot get inflation under control. Trump's FAA Administrator has had more high-profile aircraft collisions than most presidents have in an entire administration, and, he cannot even achieve necessary staffing levels. HHS Secty Wormbrain has single-handedly restored childhood measles to epidemic status while he promotes babushka cures for everything. Dept of Agriculture is sending his staff offices out of DC to the boonies during an agricultural emergency due to climate change and no fertilizer because of DOW's failure in Iran. Trump's tariffs have alienated every nation on the planet, and he has insulted every US ally in the world UK, DE, and Canada especially, because his toady Secty of State cannot stop him and is clueless how to restore relations.
Yes, the next crash is coming. I must point out, however, that when Obama took office and had a chance to prosecute the money boys who destroyed so many Americans' lives, he mumbled something about needing a financial system and let them ALL off.
And when OCCUPY WALL STREET took to the streets, Obama did NOT get on board, from a legal and regulatory position, and join forces with the populace's sentiment to take corrective action.
He did nothing, and within a year, the right wing created the TEA PARTY movement to corral and subvert Americans' anger and give birth to the MAGA infection.
So who's to blame, really? The people we KNOW are only in it for themselves; or the people who were SUPPOSED TO BE the good guys.
DL
There's lots of blame to go around.
Nor did Biden or his attorney general (whose name I intentionally unremember)help in that regard, turning their respective cheek to every insult to democracy instigated and propagated by Trump and his cronies.
I cannot wish this, because of my late in life religious faith and because I cannot sink to the level of the criminally wealthy, but I have to ask one question. When will some the world's poor, disfranchised, disposable people, faced with daily and widespread media stories contrasting their lives with those of the morbidly rich, seeing no future for themselves or their families and having nothing really to lose, say ENOUGH and go Mangione on some of these horrors? If that happens, it will probably just result in full on fascism everywhere, because with 8 billion people, the morbidly rich have enough money to pay enough thugs to terrorize the rest of us.
But is there any likely alternative? The ballot box? IF we get one in November in this country, will it matter? Hungary says it could. We are not Hungary. I do not trust our people to be that sane. Too many have been made ignorant by intent on the part of the morbidly rich, their biases churned and reinforced by MAGAmedia.
Every day proves over and over again the absolute truth of 1 Timothy 6:10 that "the love of money is the root of all evil." Only when we as a species learn moderation, and that happiness is not to be found in mountains of gold or what it can buy, will we deserve to survive into the future. If we do not, then our extinction will prove a benefit to all other species and the planet.
I say that with profound sadness, as my greatest joy in the end of what is now a 78 year life is our adorable, impish grandson, more like my son due to unfortunate circumstances. He has had the idyllic childhood neither I, my wife, his Mom or his aunts ever had. But he and his generation face a future that is far darker than the one we faced at his age. So bleak, so dystopian, so uncertain that despite the loss of any joy in my life it would have represented, I almost wish he had never been born. That I should think that says all that needs saying about how bad I think things have become, and how much worse I think they are going to be.
Too bad the people Thom needs to reach are too ideologically blinded to hear him, or too poorly educated to read and digest the facts he so relentlessly puts forth in what he writes.
Trump is Stealing from You
Trump is stealing from the American consumers through higher gas prices. He said America was becoming really rich because we produce a great amount of oil, except it’s Trump’s donors and oil producers who are getting rich from higher oil prices. The American consumers are already paying for this war. It is time for US oil producers to fund this war and end their price windfall. In World War II, the US raised taxes to fund the War and we had excess profit taxes to stop War Profiteers.
Congress needs to do the same thing today: immediately impose excess profit taxes, capture all excess profits on oil production caused by the war. Any increase in the oil price above the price that existed before the US/Israeli attack on Iran should be considered excess profit. A 100% tax on these excess profits should be imposed. These taxes should go directly to fund replacement of US weapons used in the war on Iran, instead of further stressing the American taxpayer.
This will remove any incentive to continue the war against Iran. Also, Congress needs to investigate who purchased oil futures before the attack on Iran began. Congress has to take the lead to eliminate these windfall profits and go after War Profiteers.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4111/text
S.4111 - Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act
Like I said above, refineries are profiteering.
Great I am glad someone in Congress is thinking of this idea. Now they need to let the rest of America know about this proposal.
Is there a link to this article?
WSJ are officially tipped off to prepare for what may well be a worldwide repeat of the Republican Great Depression of the 1930s
Until we get the billionaires’ money.
Understand this!
"Fully 95 percent of all of the income increases in the country were seized by the top 1 percent of Americans during that period."
Wow. Just WOW.
I am 84, an AF 1960s vet and I spent 4 years in the intelligence area for THIS? No, I didn't. Damn, I thought we were waking people up yesterday with the NK V show. I got a feeling it is too late, folks. I know it is for me; my string is getting short.
As George Carlin said referring to the ultra rich, they’ve got a club and you ain’t in it, you ain’t in it.