Oil passes $130; Oil for 2016 Delivery Passes $141
South Africa violence spreads
MARIUS BOSCH
Reuters
May 21, 2008 at 9:11 AM EDT
JOHANNESBURG — Xenophobic violence that has killed at least 24 people in South Africa spilled over to the volatile Zulu heartland on Wednesday and security officials discussed whether to use troops to quell the wave of unrest.
The attacks on African immigrants, accused by many poor South Africans of taking scarce jobs and fuelling crime, have forced thousands of people from their homes, unnerved investors and hit the rand currency.
Local media in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province said at least six immigrants were wounded in an overnight attack on a Nigerian-owned tavern in the port city of Durban.
NVDL: In South Africa people are cluelessly trying to udnerstand the Xenophobia here. Is that what it is? People suddenly realised they don't like foreigners. Really? I've seen some interesting arguments, all somewhat true, none of them adequate. Here's the best assessment I've read:
There is this competition for resources and things are not good, - Desmond Tutu
Yes the president's policies failed, yes we needed to address Zimbabwe, yes there's rascism...but no, no one goes to the root cause, why are people flaring up now, in such great numbers? What's the root motivation? The level of misery the poor are experiencing has suddenly shot up a few notches, and not only that, they suddenly find themselves sharing their desperate living spaces with ever more people clamouring for meagre resources. Global Food Crisis - the implication of these three words are Poor Rioting Mobs. So please do not mess around blaming politicians - better to blame the weather. This problem is spreading in South Africa (it's already in Durban), and it's going to gain ground around the world too. I'm sorry to say that because of the current fuel price, the poor will suffer even more in future, and the mobs will get worse. No one seems to be seeing this. They're seeing individual trees stems, they're lost in the wood.
And who is behind the oil price? The oil companies? OPEC? Greedy politicians? Sorry it's just not that elaborate.
Oil speeds toward $130 per barrel
Adam Schreck
Associated Press
May. 21, 2008 12:00 AM
NEW YORK - Just in time for the start of the summer-driving season: oil near $130 a barrel and gas getting closer to an average of $4 a gallon.
Crude prices spiked to yet another trading high Tuesday as supply concerns mounted. At filling stations across the country, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline touched $3.80 for the first time, having followed oil's spectacular rise.
There's your clue. As America embarks on the summer driving season, prices go up. People use more of something, there's not enough, it gets more expensive. So i t's simply too many people consuming too much and there being not quite enough to go around now, and so the squabbling starts. India is very aggressively buying crude and there are recurring rumors than India is planning to set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve (for hoarding purposes). We may be seeing governments now starting to try to buy any and all crude that they can get their hands on. The sheer pace at which oil just shot up to $130 is staggering. Really. Have a look at this chart, and in particular the price of Oman Crude, already at $140-something. Notice the trned for all those prices - up, up, up. Even for those of us expecting it this is getting frightening. It's also scary seeing how the media and thanks to the media everyone else haven't heard the atom bomb drop. They still don't get it. The way we are living now has actually past it's sell by date. It's gone. Now it's just a matter for it to sink in, for the reactio to filter through to hearts, minds and economies. It's going to be very hard and very painful,and we haven't even started dealing with it!
It's very very scary just how lost and deluded and frankly dumb our clever techno society actually is. A lot of people don't even know - don't even have the information in their heads yet. It is really a case of a big elephant screaming into a speck, and yet nothing is heard. Reality is obvious, unless your eyes are closed, focussed on some sleep-deprived daydream.
And what is NOBODY saying? Nobody is talking about changing the way we live, reconstructing the whole motoring culture. You are simply not hearing that debate. Everyone is trying to find alternatives so that we can just keep on doing what we're doing, keep on motoring. It's not going to happen, and hence we're all in for a very hard landing, and some cruel lessons in REAL LIFE ahead.
Oh and by the way, the answer to the last question, who is behind the steering wheel? You are. You are behind the wheel. It's been you all along. So what are you going to do now?
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