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HappySqurriel on 06 November 2009
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txrattlesnake said:
HappySqurriel said:

txrattlesnake,

There have been many people who have suggested that the spike and collapse in oil prices that you attribute to some (bizarre) conspiracy theory was actually caused by speculation; because, as credit markets seized up and speculators lost their access to low cost loans the price of certain commodities (in particular oil and natural gas) fell to more rational levels that were justified based on economic indicators.

As a general rule the simplest explanation for something tends to be the correct one, and the theory that thousands of independent speculators took their money and invested in to a commodities bubble as outer investments performed poorly is far simpler than a conspiracy theory that has powerful people controlling the price of oil.


thousands of people can do whatever they want to.  It doesn't change the fact that thereare just a few folks at the top of the pyramid that always have the final say.

So, who decided there was going to be a dot-com bubble and why? Who decided there was going to be a housing bubble and why? Who decided that the stock market would currently be in a bubble as stocks are (way) over-valued based on historic valuations?

Bubbles are similar to pyramid/ponzie schemes where the first people in make a fortune as the next wave of people buys in, the next wave makes a fortune as the following wave buys in, and this continues until the number of new clients is no longer growing and the people who are invested end up holding the bag. The difference between a pyramid/ponzie scheme and a bubble is that a bubble is not controled by anyone.

If the oil-bubble was manufactured by a handful of people you should be able to demonstrate evidence that the majority of trading was being handled by a handful of individuals; being that the spike in oil-prices follows the traditional bubble-trend of having more small investors in the market than ever before I doubt you can demonstrate that it was manufactured.