Gold rises as stocks plunge - energy prices to escalate

SHOOT: I have been saying recently [over the past few days] to expect the markets to crash. Gold rising and market turmoil - unprecedented volatility in both directions - these are signals for just how weak the financial strings are that are holding the global economic house of cards together.
By the way, the impact of the BP spill is also going to be a huge factor governing our prospects. It's going to make the price of energy more expensive because:
1) deep ocean drilling is now seen as having too high an ecological risk and a risk to company prospects
2) a major oil player, and the world's 4th largest company could well be bankrupted by this, especially given the peaking of environmental concerns/climate change concerns when this incident occurred.

Also we are just 2 weeks away from the start of the 2010 Hurricane Season.  With millions of gallons of crude awash in the Gulf, on the surface and below, what do you think we should expect from this year's storms.  I'll tell you what:  unprecedented storms, unprecedented damage.  BP had better pray that they sort out the spill at source before the first storm rolls in.

I've said this before: if you have to hope and pray that the weather co-operates in order to have comfortable economic conditions, when you're in that mindset, you're in deep trouble.  We are, and we know we are.  Movies of late reflect the realism and seriousness of our predicament.  Dark Knight, Robin Hood, The Passion of the Christ, Watchmen - all of these are very dark and gruelling reflections of the human condition as we know it now.  It's going to get darker until we can change our habits - each consumer, each country, each continent. 

clipped from finance.yahoo.com SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices dropped below $70 a barrel Monday in Asia as the euro sank to a four-year low and stock markets tumbled on investor concern Europe's economy will wither amid a debt crisis and fiscal austerity measures. Crude fell as low as $69.82, the lowest since $69.59 on Feb. 5, as the U.S. dollar gained against the beleaguered euro, which was at a four year-low. clipped from finance.yahoo.com "The market is concerned that the euro could trigger another financial crisis," said Linus Yip, a strategist with First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "I don't think that's likely, but that's the fear out there." Asian stocks plunge as euro falls to 4-year low clipped from www.examiner.com The recent British Petroleum (BP) oil rig explosion in the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana is a reminder that life has many risks, but oil drilling in deep water is even riskier than many ever imagined. This explosion and massive leak has major geographic, economic, chemical, and biological-medical influences and consequences.