Gladius is right. It's all about the money men.
What's happening in Libya is totally irrelevant, in my striving-for-humble opinion. Some riot on the street means nothing. Let's say there's a junta and someone kills Khaddafi and takes over the reins of state. Right away, the oil companies will come in and make a deal with this replacement, who won't say no to a cascade of petro-dollars, trust me. There may be turmoil for Joe and Jane Q. Libya, but not for the movers-and-shakers, as far as oil goes. Not yet anyway.
The prices are fixed. What has changed since 2008 or so, I'd say, is that the money men are not just in "profit mode," they are also in sheer survival mode.
This is why I always say there won't be hyperinflation, like some pundits are predicting. These are usually the same pundits who say "We need to stop with the printing presses, stop with the Keynesian economics, and let the market correct itself." That would have been a good idea back in 1920, if someone had stopped the Fed then, but now it is FAR too late. Letting the market correct itself would dump roughly 90% of the populace out on the street, and if you think they're going to take that lying down... No, it would be chaos to do that.
Believe it or not, Obama and Co. are doing things exactly right when it comes to the economy. No one, at least, can do any better ( and I am not the first to point out how both Bush and Obama are profligate spenders ). They are doing the minimum of what it takes to hold this crumbling society together for a little while longer. Where Obama is a bane to Catholics is on gαy marriage, abortion, social issues like that, but economically, he's just following the money, like everyone else. And at this point following the money means doing whatever it takes to squeeze just a little more milk out of the Keynesian cash-cow, which mostly involves playing a game with the Chinese.
My prediction: There will be incremental inflation in gas and food, and an incremental deflation in house prices, until it's lights out for the entire country i.e. "in one hour your doom has come." That is because the goal is not to fix the country -- it's too late -- but to eke out its existence a little longer.
Minor inflation and minor deflation sends the message that we are "getting serious" to the Chinese, that we're tightening our belts, to keep them from panicking and no longer buying our debts. That's all it is -- a formality. But this stagflation can't be pushed too far, either, because that would cause chaos prematurely.
That is why you have unrealistic prices on houses, prices that most people can't afford. Simply put, it's like a game of musical chairs, the filthy rich will move to the few good areas that are left, and everything else will decay. Then the decay, when it gets too violent, will finally eat into the few good areas. Then it will be over. But these people that are waiting to buy homes in Beverly Hills for cheap, thinking the market will correct -- it will never happen the way that they think, with home prices becoming reasonable and those who are underwater on their loans being replaced by the prudent... The market will correct, all right, and that is called the Minor Chastisement... But buying a home will be the last thing on anyone's mind then! Unfortunately, being prudent doesn't mean much when 99.9% of people around you haven't been.
Topic: Highest gas prices since 1990 (Read 3581 times)