Commodities are going up through the roof.  All of this can be traced back in some way to oil and gas prices being so high, because no matter what the commodity or product made from it is, it requires oil to get to the store and your house.

And guess what's gonna happen to oil prices when Bush hits Iran.  You know that "shock that could push the US economy into recession?"

I remember saying to myself when Bush first got "elected" and gas was a buck forty in Minneapolis that winter that "This was insane."  Now I look at two eighty a gallon here in Cincy and go "That's not too bad."

I honestly believe Bush's plan is to make sure that A) the next President is a Democrat and B) make sure that Democrat takes 100% of the blame for the hideous position we're going to be in by 2010 or so.

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.

And if that isn't depressing enough, you didn't even mention wheat.

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat prices rose to a record, passing $9 a bushel in Asian trading, on concerns that declining global output will further shrink inventories at a 26-year low.

Reserves of the grain in Canada, the world's second-largest wheat exporter, plunged 29 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The U.S. may cut its forecast for the crop in Australia to 18 million tons, from 23 million metric tons in a report today.

Wheat prices have more than doubled in the past year, raising costs at companies such as Premier Foods Plc, the U.K.'s biggest maker of cakes, Nissin Food Products of Japan and Sara Lee Corp. The grain is used as livestock feed and to make cakes, noodles and bread, with one bushel enough to make 73 loaves.

Yes, American and Transnational energy corporations profit handily on this, but it won't last long.

Reason #1. The market is under intense manipulation. By supressing refining capacity, even increases in crude production are limited in their effect on the end consumer products like gasoline. This has been working well for energy companies of all stripes, a form of collusion that everyone can know what to do without having to conspire in a dark room to do so.

Reason #2. The myth of peak oil. There is a false panic out there the we've turned the corner on production, that  all the oil available is known and we've peaked production. This is demonstrably false, from increasing access to Artic deposits to the oceans of not-so-'sweet and not-so-light oil that have remain untapped because they couldn't compete price-wise. Until now. It's a bit counter intuitive, but the higher the price, the higher the overall production volume can grow, thanks to the introduction of new products. In order to convince potential producers to make the HUGE investments necessary to process the lower quality crude, high prices would have to be sustained and not so obvioulsy manipulated.

Reason #3. Geoploitical impact. The negative effects of stable prices above around $68-75 are too great, so while prices may often peak above that range, I think that current oil producers' and American interests coincide enough to keep prices fixed in the above range for one primary reason, to inhibit production of the other forms of oil besides the 'sweet' stuff (easily and cheeply refined).  When that stuff starts to go online the whole balance of power in the world would be effected as 'enemies of America' like Venezuela's gov't would benefit the most. Then again a little pre-emptive coup here or there might fix all of this. Oh wait, we've tried that and failed. Oh well, try and try again.

If Chavez falls, Oil prices may have no limit.

Declaring the bottom is the only way back up..

lf we'd have paid attention to Carter back in the 70's, we wouldn't be in near the mess we're in today...slow learners.

to put the current prices in perspective:

Despite Wednesday's jump, oil is still well below inflation-adjusted highs hit in early 1980. Depending on the adjustment, a US$38 barrel of oil in 1980 would be worth US$96 to US$101 or more today.

[...]

Despite the decline, however, supplies were not unusually low, analysts said.

"Even though we saw a sharp drawdown in crude oil inventories, inventories are really still within the average range for this time of the year. That should be one calming reality," Shum said.

link

lTMF'sA

the revolution will not be televised...