Stock market/banking sector insanity

[bigeasy1]

Now you have me scared capt'n Chuck.Everything i have,which isn't that much, is with Smith Barney,at least he's a friend and a very conservative type so i feel somewhat safe,(if thats possible).

I'm glad i bought my house twenty five years ago,for 35,000.I took out a Loc a couple of years ago,but only used around 20k of it.
My biggest concern,is wondering how I'm going to afford my fishing and fuel in the Seacraft,when i retire in four years.

Eleven years ago, at the age of 50, the company i worked at for twenty years went belly up.A victim of the big box guys.Buyers in the wholesale hardware industry jobs are kinda scarce,even more so when you're fifty.Now I'm working a full and part time job,and still not earning what i was before.Oh well,"you gotta do what you gotta do"

I rolled over my 401 with Smith Barney,and it was doing great,then 911 came.It came back somewhat since then,but now all this crap with the market now is driving it back down.

Now i've read that already, that several corn/ethanol refineries have shut down and some are filing for bankruptcy.Why is that?i thought it was the magic liquid,what a bunch of crap.

This ethanol thing is another big myth,it creates almost as many pollutants to make it,as it saves when burned in cars.Then there's the subsidies to all the farmers(big business),not to mention the high prices that we now have to pay for food at the grocery store.Anything made out of corn has skyrocketed.

And can someone please tell me why i have to take it up the a-s from Exon mobil,on both ends,one at the gas pump,and the other as a stockholder.
Which set of creeps are more responsible for the high costs of oil,the commodities traders or the oil companies.How come no one can really explain to me who is responsible for the daily increases in oil prices.

What,is there some wizard of OZ type guy,behind a big curtain deciding the price.Maybe we should just take over Mexico,and take their oil,hell,we're already supporting all their illegals, oh, "I'm sorry, i should have said undocumented workers.

[Bigshrimpin]

And can someone please tell me why i have to take it up the a-s from Exon mobil,on both ends,one at the gas pump,and the other as a stockholder.
Which set of creeps are more responsible for the high costs of oil,the commodities traders or the oil companies.How come no one can really explain to me who is responsible for the daily increases in oil prices.

This was an interesting article about steve forbes predictions on oil prices in 2005.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...31/ixcity.html



Mr Forbes said the whole concept of the strategic reserve was pushing prices higher. "The speculators know now that no matter what happens to the price of oil Uncle Sam is there buying almost every day," he said. "Stop the buying and in fact throw some of that oil on the open market, boy that would throw it in turmoil and send the price down."

The oil market has become a target for investors, since the returns have been significantly higher than those from the stock or bond markets in the past couple of years. Fundamentally there is enough oil to go around. Stockpiles are full and Saudi Arabia has promised to step up production to 11m barrels a day.

"This is sheer bubble speculation. I'll be blunt, there's hardly a hedge fund in North America that hasn't speculated on oil futures," said Mr Forbes. He added that when prices did fall, the impact would make the dotcom collapse "look like a picnic".