I am sort of shocked at the release of fuel Obama has just allowed.  What does this mean?  I don't get it,  is he doing it to get votes?  News said we've used a lot for Libya so that was why he's releasing.  But it's not Our war over there so that answer is lame.

Is this a good thing?  Could it spark some hopeful upswing for the middle class?

With all the crazy things going on geo-politically in the middle east, it's not long before these uprising CUT all gas production, and when that happens the world will have no reserves. IMHO

First off, oil price has a direct effect on economic growth not only in the U.S. but globally. The growth is stalling.

Second, Oil prices effect every product and service produced hence reducing people's disposable income which also affects economic growth.

Third, it is not the U.S that's releasing the crude but it is coordinated effort led by the IEA (International Energy Agency in which 28 countries participate)

Fourth, One of the largest components of Crude Oil prices is speculation. By suddenly releasing the oil, speculators loose money and objective of the IEA saying that they will releases 2 million barrels a month and more if needed is aimed at speculators.

Fifth, if U.S. wants to be part of the world sometimes you have to cooperate or can be unilateral, it is our choice. This President is for cooperation unlike the previous President who was unilateral and we all know where that got us.

Sixth, if your goal is to find grave yards in the midst of a Rose bed, and belong to the "Obama can't do anything right club" you go right ahead.

THE END

because they are dumbasses. Obama by releasing oil from the petroluem reserves will reduce the price of oil in the short-term because the supply of oil will increase but in the long-term we are screwed. We are screwed because OPEC has agreed not to increase oil production quotas.

Is Obama gambling that the NATO command and the Libyan rebels can oust President Qaddafi by end of the year. But if Qaddafi leaves, who knows how much of the oil producing infrastructure has been demolished and has to be rebuilt to return to full capacity? GAGambler would probably have a better idea.  

Good question Octavia. Unfortunately, what happens in Libya does affect our economy. We made our bed with NATO i.e. the French and Italians and now have to sleep with them. We are entangled in so many treaties who knows, well "meinsarche" probably does, how these treaties works? Twenty years ago I was sleeping in a GP tent in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert in the Persian Gulf War. I know how I got there, but just a year and half earlier, we were celebrating the fall of communism and thinking naiively, we don' have anyone to fight.

General George Washington warned us about becoming involved in the avarice of European interests.

The middle east look at it as it is us. They associate it with the west, and so even though nato is a joint force, it's still the west.

and, technically, NATO is a false flag. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Flag NATO try's to muddy the water, to make it harder for other countries to understand who is attacking them. NATO is propaganda, it does exist, BUT, it's concept is anything but clear.

Look at us, some of us dont understand NATO is mainly funded by us, which really means it's and arm of our military. So we don't even really understand NATO, it's even harder when you're the country being bombed. The concept of NATO is against human right ethics, and goes against a few other articles of war because it's a false flag.

NATO is just a cover to allow our military to be even more of a killing machine while attempting to confuse who has declared the what should be clear declarations of war against another country.



-- Modified on 6/23/2011 9:33:22 PM

Sure, he has the cover of the Europeans joining in, but it seems clear to me this is the only thing left Obama can do to lower prices at the pump, boost the economy and strengthen his position for re-election.  As has been discussed many times on this Board, the SPR is not intended to be a pricing mechanism and should only be used when a supply disruption threatens the economy to a much greater extent than this one does.  It will have a short-term benefit only, but it makes O look like he's doing something for the middle class.

i dont know if it was by design or not but the effect this has is to alter price perception for traders. the perception of  slower international growth already had oil prices topping. this has created a kick to the downside. for those who trade options based PURELY on technical charts will look to cover longs and enter short positions as charts dictate.

frankly, they could have achieved a similar affect had the just raised margin requiremnets as they did recently with silver.

what will be interesting is at what point do end users begin to buy long for delivery based on the FUNDAMENTALS. when Bush went public in 08' with the pronouncement of increasing domestic production, it altered, at least in the minds of traders, perceptions about supply. I think market dymanics are differnt today,IOW, problems in ME are greater and REAL.

M I C K E Y  M O U S E

What economic advice?