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| Here's the paper about high oil prices you heard Mark Carbonaro of "Wake Up Monterey" refer to on KION-AM in the course of an interview aired June 17, 2008. Click here to listen to another interview with Mark Carbonaro of August 21, 2008, during which Mark and Reid engage in a spirited exchange of ideas and opinions sparked by the Goldman Sachs forecast on oil prices, at that time reiterating that they were about to head back up again after a correction from the recent peak of $147 per barrel down to the $112-$115 range. Seems like old times! It's going on three years since the "fickle pickle" paper was published but oil and energy are back in the news amidst political turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East and barrel prices comfortably trading in the triple digits. Did the energy debates of the 2008 presidential election wake us up regarding dependence on foreign oil? Did the massive blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico during 2010 cause us to think twice about the consequences of shutting that region off to exploration and development? Yet now the gasoline pump price flirts with $4/gal., and there's plenty of outcry about that, but where were these voices when they counted? Click here to listen to a February 22, 2011, interview KION's Mark Carbonaro conducted with Reid to discuss why gasoline retailing is a little different from how it's commonly pictured by the ordinary motorist. On April 12, 2011, Mark invited Reid back as the national average for a gallon of gasoline reached $4.00--significantly higher in parts of California and Connecticut. Do "speculators" drive energy prices, and is their influence in the markets, if it exists, improper or unfair? Not the way to analyze the situation, Reid explains, citing numerous factors at play in the world energy and oil picture. On April 22, 2011, Mark wasn't too pleased, nor very complimentary, in assessing President Obama's behavior--what Mark terms the "fingerpointer-in-chief's" scapegoating--regarding "the oil speculators" as the principal culprits in the tightening grip of rising oil and gasoline prices. Reid was invited back to add to previous discussions on this subject, and the conversation covered both energy business economics, including the oft-overlooked cost of social unrest among youth populations in oil-rich nations upon which the United States depends for a large portion of oil supplies, as well as the impact of looming 2012 election factors. On May 13, 2011 ("Friday the 13th"), Reid was invited back to Mark's show to discuss congress's periodic oil-executive grilling. On June 17, 2001, Mark brought an old friend back to 1460 KION, Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California) associate economics professor and Hoover Institution fellow David R. Henderson, who led off a stimulating segment talking about the security threat (or lack thereof) posed by Iran's quest to develop nuclear weaponry. Since much of that discussion bears on the delicate balance entailed by the Middle East's prime importance in serving world oil demand, Reid joined the discussion midway to help David and Mark flesh out the side of the discussion involving that aspect, including the potential impact of proposals by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to clamp down on "speculation" in the oil futures markets. Would restrictions on U.S. futures trading activity contribute a public-policy benefit? Not likely, the discussion concluded. On June 23, 2011, the news hit the wires that the sluicegates of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were being opened in an attempt by the government to combat rocketing gasoline prices by adding to supply. The news immediately translated to a four-percent decline in the futures and spot markets for oil. Mark asked Reid to comment on the 1460 KION-AM airwaves about this development. On October 11, 2011, Mark invited Reid to share his views about volatility in the stock and commodities markets, with a special look at oil. The two also discussed prospects for inflation, and how the Baby Boomers fit into sizing up the stock and bond market. | |
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