VP of Common Sense

GM May Be Heading for Quick, Packaged Bankruptcy

Is this an obvious short to everyone else as well?

Geithner to Put Chrysler in Bankruptcy Next Week

So...

Nissan was rumored to be partnering with Chrysler to do their next full size pickup, now I assume they will buy the "Ram" brand.

Ford may pickup the minivan line for $5 or so, after all that's all Ford can afford and no one with deep pockets would want it.

The Viper... Proton? VW? Dunno who is collecting exotics these days... Saleen?

Likely all the cars die off, a couple neat ones like the 300 and the Challenger aren't enough to save the cancer ridden corpse.

How Bad Is the Oil Shock of 2008?

Purely for entertainment:

We do have a functional energy policy... USE OIL!

How Bad Is the Oil Shock of 2008?

I find all the social commentary amusing, but irrelevent. Bakken oil shale, Canadian oil sands, ANWR, drilling 5 miles off Biscayne Bay, my evil imperialist capitalist views on the world etc. etc. etc. We get it, there is more oil, and high prices will bring some or all of this online over time. The problem there is the market is not elastic, the only people that can bring 2MM bpd on tomorrow are in the midde east. Further, those people have said they like prices right where they are now.

The USA is a functional supply and demand marketplace, yet the price of oil continues to rise, thus we are not the culprit. I think it's great that US demand is clearly decreasing, but again, look at price. We are not driving the market.

Nearly half the world's population purchases oil in NON supply and demand marketplaces where the price is fixed or modified by the local governments (see: India, China, most of the Middle East, Malaysia, Venezuala, etc.)

Because all of those governments are pumping money into oil subsidies at close to a billion dollars a day, speculators are irrelevent. Said governments actions have affect of driving up demand, which is what speculators depend on. As I've said before: (speculators : supply and demand) as (amplifier : guitar).

So, keep track of news regarding subsidy modifications. In the last week Malaysia and India have both moved towards lifiting their subsidies, once China blinks the bubble will burst.