Buckley Throws In the Towel

Re: [spiers] Buckley Throws In the Towel

Say the world price of a given grade of oil is $60 a barrel, then that is what
USA pays.
Everyone else pays less, depending on who they are. I learned this from a lad
who was
getting rich redirecting fuel from one place to another and arbitraging the
difference. Marc
Rich became a billionaire in essence doing this.

Recently Russia jacked up the prices of natural gas on the Ukraine, from the
preferential low
rates to much higher rates. It's not just oil, it's everything.

http://www.energybulletin.net/10226.html

It's all politics.

Follow the money. One way to launder money is to pay too much, and have your
"supplier"
divert the overage elsewhere. Since your costs of goods are lower, your profits
are down and
you pay less in taxes. Some serious moral hazard in this set-up.

Or maybe we are just buying friends. Who knows?

We export Alaskan north slope oil to japan and korea. (Recall we have vast oil
up there?)
How come? My guess is we cut a deal... we sell them USA oil and they have a
more secure
supply, and more secure supply route than from the middle east. In return they
act as air
craft carriers for USA.

My introduction to variable pricing was in China in the 70's. The communists
crowded us all
together, traders from all over the world. We'd ask for prices, and the
Chinese would quote
one price to the Americans, one to the Germans, one to the Pakistanis, one to
the Ghanains. I
saw these prices, and asked how come USA has the highest prices? "Because USA
has the
most money."

Oh.

Later I saw an American get a 3% discount. I went to my Hong Kong agent and
asked how
come my competitor was gettng a 3% discount,... I wanted to get a 3% discount
too. He said
"ask for a 3% discount." I asked for a 3% discount, and the Chinese said "ok".

You gotta be a Bill Clinton to understand all this stuff, to see it and be able
to follow it. I
think you have to be a Dick Cheney to actually do this kind of work. It's all
way outside of my
league.

Did you see Steve Jobs has moved Apple into the Hi-Fi market?
http://www.apple.com/

John





On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:59:29 -0800 (PST), sourcesf wrote :

> Hi John,
>
> Near the bottom of the email where you said that the US pays the
> hightest price in the world for oil (and everything else). How are you
> figuring this? Let me take a quick crack at it- It's not only the
> price tag that matters, but also other expenditures need to be worked
> into the costs like:
>
> - cost of military/foreign policy abroad (e.g.- the Iraq example to
> ensure oil resources?)
> - costs of subsidies that we ultimately pay for in taxes
>
> Actually, i'll stop right there. Maybe i can sum it up saying that
> maybe you're counting the extra taxes and interest we're all paying to
> subsidize gov't expenditures that are supposed to help. (Who these are
> helping might be a different question altogther. ;))
>
> Could you elaborate or correct my mistakes?
>
> Thanks!
>
> excerpt:
> "The bottom line will be economics, and since the USA pays the highest
> price in the world for oil (and everything else) the Moslems will
> wonder how come they have to sell to China cheap when USA will pay
> more."
>
>
>
> --- John Spiers wrote:
>
> > Folks,
> >
> > Bill Buckley concedes USA defeat in Iraq (his words):
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/pt4oe
> >
> > But he does not concede he was wrong. Nonetheless, since the top
> > conservative thinker has
> > spoken, all the underling thinkers will scramble to say they were
> > always against the war,
> > assign blame, etc.
> >
> > When USA lost the war in Vietnam, US prestige dropped, trade patterns
> > changed, Soviet
> > Union's prestige heightened.
> >
> > Emboldened, Soviets invaded Afghanistan, China invaded Vietnam,
> > Vietnam invaded
> > Cambodia, all self-inflicted disasters and a waste of newly-won
> > prestige on the part of the
> > winners.
> >
> > On the other hand, Americans retreated into disco... Pres. Carter
> > lead the way to massive new
> > freedoms for US citizens (deregulation in transportation, common
> > carriers,
> > telecommunications, beer making and other fields). Our puppets fell
> > like dominoes... the
> > Shah in Iran, Duvalier in Haiti, Torrijos in Panama, Somoza in
> > Nicaragua, Marcos in the
> > Philippines... and many others, a rather nasty lot. Not that
> > elements in the US government
> > did not getting busy coming up with new puppets; Saddam Hussein,
> > Osama bin Laden, and
> > other bad boys were created, trained and supported by USA. The
> > Hamiltonians were down, but not out.
> >
> > In Iraq, all of the anger in the Moslem world was focussed on USA.
> > About a fifth of China's
> > territory is populated by Moslems. China shares a common border with
> > Afghanistan. China
> > wants oil. That USA would invade Iraq was a dream come true for the
> > Chinese... Moslem
> > unrest in China would be directed against USA, Moslem friendship
> > would direct oil towards
> > China. Peace and prosperity for China, USA bogged down in an
> > unwinnable war, USA
> > transferring technology to China, China paying for it with US dollars
> > gained by selling us
> > video game players. And our government gets busy searching our
> > luggage. For China, USA
> > policy could not be better.
> >
> > I believe one reason USA has not been attacked again since 9-11 is
> > simply because the
> > Chinese are workng very hard to prevent it. Although bringing down
> > our financial
> > infrastructure by destroying the internet, or a repeat of 9-11, or
> > WMD smuggled into our
> > ports are all very easy options, none has happened. Another attack
> > on USA would cost China
> > far more than USA. Whatever China can do worldwide to prevent an
> > attack on USA, I imagine
> > China is doing.
> >
> > In the meantime, China is making friends wherever it can, especially
> > any place with oil...
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/nlml9
> >
> > And since the Chinese were against the US invasion of Iraq, their
> > prestige is heightening.
> >
> > The best possible scenario is when we high-tail it out of Iraq, the
> > Chinese make the mistake
> > of moving in. The bottom line will be economics, and since the USA
> > pays the highest price in
> > the world for oil (and everything else) the Moslems will wonder how
> > come they have to sell to
> > China cheap when USA will pay more. Could cause some consternation.
> >
> > And where we have withdrawn things improve, as in the Balkans, where
> > what was recently a
> > hotbed of inter-religious terrorist violence is now a hotbed of
> > interreligious, well... hotbeds.
> >
> > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4746082.stm (Doesn't she look like
> > Jodie Foster?)
> >
> > So, anyone know a good disco ball designer?
> >
> > John

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