EnderWi99in

That usually happens when people don’t want what you’re selling.

No it’s not a good comparison. The bulk food prices themselves are indeed sold on a similar commodity market, but the pricing of packaged goods is marked by companies selling those packaged goods. Oil and gas are sold at the rates bought and sold through futures contracts directly from the producers. You’re paying the rate the traders got it for, usually with a regulated mark up. If you’re buying from a private utility then you’re on your own buddy.

Very fair take on moral philosophy, but what does that actyally have to do with how commodity prices work??

The US was in a good position to take on a lot of these contracts and the Biden administration, despite what the right might think, is actually extracting more domestic O&G than at any point. The shift is also that when oil prices climb high enough it makes shale production profitable enough to actually extract. I don’t see how it falls back to pre-war levels but the US can also more than make up for the demand with a high enough price per barrel. I think much under $50 a barrel of NYMEX, most of the US producers stop operating.

Good lord that isn’t how commodity prices work. There’s no cabal with complete control over global oil and gas prices. There are groups with varied interests depending on the amount and quality of oil they possess, but even that gets complicated. It boils down to what is on the market and how it’s bought and sold on contracts by global energy traders. Yes, OPEC and Saudi Arabia have some power over prices by increasing and decreasing supply on the market, but that’s been reduced with how much supply has come online over the years in the US and Canada. Russian supply cuts to Europe had a pretty obvious ripple effect, but after a year or so, supplies and relative demand have shifted. This reductionist take is so tiring and is such an obvious sign of lack of understanding how commodities markets, and quite likely economies themselves, actually work in the real world. It sounds almost as crazy as the right wing conspiracies about global cabals.

Because it’s not really his vision. He’s just the anointed one.

I think Trump sped it up, but the same people hiding in their snake holes were working on getting here for years. When Trump goes, they all need to go with him, or they’ll just anoint someone else.

Conservatism as a concept isn’t inherently garbage. These people aren’t just conservatives though. They are fascists.

Some of us that was our only option. I’m sorry I wanted to go to college. I was also 17 and nobody in my family had ever done anything like college before. I was denied federal loans and didn’t know any better. I’m not the OP though and I’m happy for those who can get their loans forgiven. It is what it is for me though. I’ve been steadily paying the past 15 years.

You all got to stop paying? Sallie Mae dumped a shit ton of late payment fees on me for 6mo I wasn’t working over the pandemic and two years later I’m just about back to where I was back then in payments. Shit sucks. Good for you all though if anyone else can at least get out from under this. I’ll be paying until I’m 50.