Dan Rather on CBS News just reporting that due to the severe weather, oil prices will be higher and there may be a shortage. Coincidence?

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), January 20, 2000

Answers

What severe weather? The nation has had unusually warm weather up until this week. That makes NO sense whatsoever. There should be an oil glut, not a shortage.

-- O Yeah? (worldpage@aol.com), January 20, 2000.

Thanks lparks, the truth will eventually come out but not from the likes of Dan Blather, mouthpiece for the Clinton Administration and large corporations.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), January 20, 2000.

It's hard to believe that these network news people can be so totally stupid. We get some real winter weather is one section of the country and they think is it driving up oil prices all over the world. What do they think caused the price increases over the last two weeks before the bad weather arrived?

-- Dave (dannco@hotmail.com), January 20, 2000.

The "Nightly Business Report" shown on many PBS stations gave the same BS -- even showing someone walking under an umbrella on Wall Street while snow flakes were bouncing off. Oil refinery problems? WHAT oil refinery problems???

I'm not saying that I am convinced that these problems are due to Y2K, but WHY are all these oil refinery problems being IGNORED by the media????

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), January 20, 2000.

Ray, Dave,

I've pretty much had it with the national media. Independant news hounds that they are.

I submit that when the levy breaks and most of the USA have lost their life savings, that these smiling faces from CNBC and CBS should be publicly tried and hung.

Harsh, but perhaps then we shall rediscover the purpose of the press.

Excuse me, but I'm getting very angry about this.

Scarlet,

-- Scarlet Pinpernell (Paradise@thewater.com), January 20, 2000.

So Dan Rather said something about oil on the news. So what. Again, everybody's looking for significance, some glimmer of light to prove that their hopes for the worst are going to come true. Last month it was "Koskinen's lying about the severity of Y2K". Now it's the imminent collapse of Western civilization due to an impending oil crisis. Well, here's a couple of things to ponder:

First, does anybody remember when Ross Perot was running for president, and he was on television with all his charts and graphs explaining how the nation's economy could not survive the "hemorraghing" due to the S&L crisis?

Secondly, I remember when oil in the 70's went to something like $43 a barrel. During both oil "crisis" periods I had a good job and made decent money. In fact I don't even remember paying much attention to the crisis in 1973. Fact is, I didn't really even watch TV in those days - I was out on the road with my rock band.

I do remember during the '79 crisis, while I was waiting in a gasoline line, I saw some kid selling newspapers and donuts and hot coffee to people in their cars. Man, this kid was making a bundle that day! It wasn't a "crisis" for him!

The world's economic situation is something so huge, convoluted, crisscrossed, patched up, and triple-wired that it's ridiculous to think that one as an individual can do much of anything about it. Might as well also fret and fuss over impending collisions with asteroids.

Paying some extra money for gas is not the same as being stricken with the Ebola virus. Come on people - to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2 - "you'll live".

-- Dave Polich (wavedave@earthlink.net), January 20, 2000.

Dave, thanks for your incredible insight. I wish you'd'a had this forum back in 1973 so that all the people that got laid off wouldn't have been so concerned about it - they could've gone on a rock 'n' roll tour and stopped watching the news. Hopefully the Nintendo generation are as entrepreneurial as the tyke you saw in 1979. IMHO just because you are an individual and cannot change anything of any major significance you should not hide your head up your ass.

-- Paranoia Will (Destroy_Y@BlackCopters.com), January 20, 2000.

Are you kidding me? Do you even pay attention at whats going on? The price of Gold has been illegally forced down by the big boys that are short gold. Millions of dollars at stake. Not to mention the many small time investors that have invested in Gold. Illegally, but thats besides the point.

The big run up in the price of gold was hardly mentioned by CNBC. Instead they had Al Goldman on to denounce investing in gold.

Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest shorters or gold.

CNBC constantly trots out expert after expert to prop up the biggest bubble in history. You would expect some intelligent reporting on the relationship between now and 1929. If you can't see it now. Then buy some Yahoo as soon as possible. And Good luck.

-- Scarlet Pimpernell (Paradise@thebeach.net), January 20, 2000.

The media is now controlled by the Government its time for us to wake up before its to late. The Government want the oil prices to go up don't forget the higher the price of oil the higher the taxes come in So hide the truth don't be honest with your people keep them blind. THEY CONTROL THE MEDIA WAKE UP

-- Time to THINK (Scared@what I see .com), January 20, 2000.

Forgive me if this has already been posted.

http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500157247-500195319-50 0851475-0,00.html

"International Energy Agency: Oil shortage looming due to strong demand, tight supplies

Copyright ) 2000 Nando Media Copyright ) 2000 Associated Press

From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century

By BRUCE STANLEY

LONDON (January 20, 2000 7:22 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - A respected industry study said Thursday that global demand for oil increased much faster than supplies at the end of last year, pinching inventories and driving up prices as buyers hoarded crude ahead of feared Y2K-related disruptions.

"The numbers show markets that are tight and getting tighter," said the monthly report by the International Energy Agency.

Signs that OPEC will extend its production cuts in output beyond March has added to upward pressure. Prices for the benchmark oils of Europe and the United States rose by more than 4 percent in December and surged further this week. West Texas Intermediate crude in the U.S. was flirting with $30 a barrel, a level not seen since the January 1991 outbreak of the Gulf War.

"The market needs more oil now. But non-OPEC supply is growing only slowly in response to the price rises of the last nine months," the report warned.

World demand for oil swelled to "an extremely strong" 77.3 million barrels per day in the last three months of 1999, exceeding available stockpiles by 3.1 million barrels daily.

The Paris-based IEA is part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of the world's richest countries.

Demand should ease slightly this month, it said, as buyers work though inventories they built up as a precaution against Y2K-related supply interruptions. And economic growth seems to be offsetting the economic impact of higher oil prices in much of the world.

"I don't think we're near a crisis stage," said Peter Gignoux, head of the petroleum desk at Salomon Smith Barney Citibank. "They're raising a flag and saying, 'Watch out, this market is getting short of oil."'

A recent cold snap in the northeastern United States has helped underpin prices.

Oil refiners, meanwhile, have seen profit margins squeezed as crude prices more than doubled in the past year while prices have increased at a slower pace for gasoline and heating oil.

U.S. gasoline prices rose to a 3 2/4-year high of almost $1.35 a gallon in early December before slipping back 2 cents in early January, according to the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations.

A short-lived slump in crude prices, due partly to the realization that Y2K fears were overblown, was the most important factor in that decline, analyst Trilby Lundberg said.

OPEC nations have slipped a bit in complying with production quotas, but firm prices haven't led non-OPEC producers to flood world markets with their own oil.

Adding to the pressure, fewer new fields are coming on line and oil ministers from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela began talking last week about extending OPEC production cuts beyond an expected March expiration date. Analysts said they would probably do so through June."

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 20, 2000.

who's dan rather? what's tv?

http://www.napster.com http://www.macster.com

great sharing network for MP3 music....

-- Inever (inevercheckmy@onebox.com), January 21, 2000.

Oh no! If this keeps up, we'll have to start investing in non- polluting, non-fossil fuels!

Yes, a shortage is going to hit us all in the pocket, but if it finally provokes some spending on alternatives to fossil oil, then it's all to the best as far as I'm concerned. Better to have a wake up call from a short term recoverable squeeze now, than to wait until it starts to run dry in (pick your figure) 20/30/50/100/500 years.

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 21, 2000.