I believe gas prices are going down because the DEMOCRATS closed

[rateyes]

the Enron loophole. And, we ought to be declaring that fact far and wide.

[sendero]

There are many reasons..

... but I expect them to start rising again within 2 weeks after the election.

[kestrel91316]

2. Yep. They gotta get those Thanksgiving travel dollars stolen.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. MAybe...

But people are going to forget what a crisis we're in when gas goes back down below 2 bucks. It needs to stay above 2.50 until we get the wind power in place and the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the infrastructure to keep them running.
People have a short term memory for stuff like this.
Duckie

[peanut2010]

20. Your right

If Obama wins next tuesday and he will if the election isn`t stolen again.The oil companies will turn up production to bottom out oil prices that way we will forget about energy alternatives,so they can keep thier monopoly and continue to rule the world.

[Demeter]

3. Where Did You Hear That the Enron Loophole Was Closed?

and do you have a link? To my knowledge, it's still there. What's closed is the latest Ponzi scheme.

[lib2DaBone]

4. I think it means "Naked Shorting" on the futures market....

..where Hedge Fund managers bid on gasoline futures and bid them up as in a casino, then place bets that they will go down again. They profit off all moves in price and this drives up the cost more than supply and demand.

It goes back to our old friends, the Bankster/Gangsters on Wall Street, and the lack of regulation.. (thanks to McCain and "everyone's a whiner" Phil Gramm)

But I don't know if the ban on naked shorting on the futures market is stsill in effect? It would seem that since they banned this practice of naked short selling the price of gas has come down.

[Demeter]

5. That Wasn't The Enron Loophole!

That's a whole 'nother issue.

Gramm's loophole is much more subtle, part of the "deregulation" so beloved by GOP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_loophole

[rateyes]

12. ...

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Misc/misc.transport.road/2008-05/msg02528.html

[Turbineguy]

6. The end of the Bush Administration

is getting priced in. A reduction in geo-political uncertainty. It started when the attack on Iran was canceled. That was priced in at $150 per barrel.

[stpalmer]

7. This happened right before the last election,too!

I remember thinking that the repugs were trying to soften voter's feelings about the economy...and sure enough, after we reelected the Bush, prices rose again.

[Sheepshank]

8. Funny you should mention gas prices dropping.

My antennae are all abuzz in a completely different direction.

Oil comapnies NEED the good will and tax gestures and off shore drilling permits from the Reps...they are going to be hard(er) to come by from the Dems. Keeping gas prices high reflects negatively on the Reps (since we are not quite done with the 8 years of Bush). Dropping oil prices gives the general population a sense that there is no oil crisis, the Reps are doing ok and were correct. Energy proces becomes one less thing to weigh when voting. It plays to the Reps and against the Dems when oil prices drop. This is the oil companies way of paying back to the good will and into the pockets of the Republican party. Just one little opinon.

[maui9002]

9. Gas prices are going down because we're entering

a worldwide recession and demand is way down. OPEC is meeting soon to restrict supply to support dwindling prices. In my view, it's a good news bad news situation. Good news because the lower price of oil will definitely help some people and businesses. Bad news because it signals that we're in for a rough economy and because the lower prices may delay efforts to pursue an alternative energy policy more diligently.

[upi402]

10. it's been going down at election time

can you say, 'crime family'?

[Chimichurri]

11. When did that happen?

[rateyes]

13. ...

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Misc/misc.transport.road/2008-05/msg02528.html

[TexasObserver]

14. It is reduction in worldwide demand due to the economy, AND the coming GOP defeat.

These big oil companies KNOW they've been running unregulated for the past 8 years, and they know the days of their rampant war profiteering are soon to be over. They're trying to get the price of consumer energy costs down, before they're looking at nationalization.

The election of Obama will help keep the price of oil down, the price of energy to consumers down, and will thereby help the overall economy in more ways than one.

THE OIL WAR PRESIDENCY is soon to be over. That's my term for it.

Bush fought to make the world safe for Big Oil CEOs.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Has Demand Dropped By Enough To Mathematically Explain. . .

. . .a 38% drop in price. I've never seen a supply/demand curve, no matter how nonlinear that would really suggest that it's just a demand reduction phenomenon. Have you seen something different?
The Professor

[TexasObserver]

16. No. A big part of the drop is the result of the political winds, and the impact on oil.

As the election of Obama seems more certain, the price of oil begins to reflect a world less worried about war in the Mideast expanding into places like Iran. That's a huge question mark resolved, and the markets respond favorably to certainty.

Demand is but one element of the prices we have seen. FEAR of interruptions of oil flow have driven prices up because buyers purchase well into the future, and assuring they did not suffer an interruption was tantamount to economies such as China and India, when they were both soaring. As the world economy cools, the price of oil is seeing a double whammy. Demand decreases and Fear decreases, with the decrease in demand making the prospect of Mideast war even less so.

I like the prospect for reasonably priced oil for the next two years. I don't think we come out of this current downturn substantially until 2010, although the stock market bottom will almost certainly come in the next six months.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. That Exactly What I Think Too

I think demand has barely had an effect, overall. Some, but not 38%. I agree with you about the mid-term price of oil, too.

The "winds" as you described them, will keep a lid on that for a while.
The Professor

[TexasObserver]

23. Big Oil companies know they don't want to be "the problem" when the congress is seated.

It's going to be "whack a mole" time, and the oil boys are smart enough to know that lending and insurance will be targets because of the Wall Street and derivatives meltdown, and they know if they keep their heads down, oil may not be a target.

People tend to forget that it was Bush's Iraq war that really ignited the soaring of oil prices, when it impinged production at a time when demand was on the rise. The constant fear of further interferences with oil production due to threats of action against Iran has bumped significantly the price, with the benefactors mainly the oil producers, and the oil speculators. My guess is that the speculators are dumping their oil as the world economy wanes, and that abundance of oil is further driving down prices. It's about time.

This is the Obama Effect, the calming of international fears, as we all see Bush packing for Crawford. We've been terrorized alright. By Bush-Cheney, and their constant war talk.

[KharmaTrain]

17. The Speculators Got Flushed Out...

Notice how the price of oil really began to drop when Lehmann Brothers went belly up. The bust of the market and the drain of capital meant there was less money in the commodities market to prop up those prices, they needed the cash to cover their losses.

We'll see if there's a political "benefit" in a week and a day...

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. I believe it's gone down because the speculators ran out of money.

[slampoet]

21. DING DING DING!!! We have a winner.

[Chimichurri]

22. This doesn't go into effect until Sept 30, 2009

Hedge funds and other bulk investors are moving to cash.