When All Else Fails, Re-Invent The Economics
I know CNBC has the reputation of being a cheerleader for stocks, but really now. The following appeared on the CNBC website this morning:
U.S. crude oil inventories fell much more than expected last week, keeping downward pressure on already weak oil prices.
Crude inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels for the week ended July 19, the Energy Information Administration reported… On average, analysts were predicting crude inventories to have fallen by 700,000 barrels.
So, when did declining supply ever put “downward pressure” on the price of oil, or any other commodity?
To be fair, I can’t directly fault CNBC for this. Their source for the material was Reuters.
Probably just a typo then, right. Right?
Source:
“Oil Hovers Near $126 after Big Drop in Crude Inventories”
CNBC/Reuters, July 23, 2008
July 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
How about the argument for illegal aliens. Instead of paying American citizens more for those dirty jobs nobody wants to do at those prices, they import workers and pay them less, abusing them because of their vulnerability. Or instead of paying the more experienced 50 year old more, there are lay-offs and then 30 year olds are imported from a Third World country that work for much less, because they are having trouble filling all those jobs (i.e. at least at the wage they want to pay). The Big Boss man gets a humongous bonus for saving that bottom line. Main steet guys get a pink slip along with sorry prospects for any future job. Hard to compete with that Third World crowd. Oh, and gotta speak Spanish, too. This is the “Bizarro World” main street lives every day. That is the economic lesson we have lived since I came of age. Supply and demand? Pish Posh!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Thanks for the comment Leigh. Once again, I’m going to have to quote good ol’ Henry Ford here. The famous industrialist once said:
Seems the self-styled “industrialists” of the 21st century have conveniently forgotten this last part of the lesson…