As of this morning (30/04/2026) oil has jumped to $125 a barrel because the White House says the Iran blockade, by America, may last for months.
But by this time tomorrow there will probably be a diktat from HRH Donald saying the opposite. And the stock markets will be on the move again.
Who gives him this unstoppable power?
Ziplok
He and his mates are making a tidy profit out of all these fluctuations in the price of oil.
There's been something of a hint of insider trading...
his billionaire pals who make a fortune trading Oil stocks as the market rises and falls.
Trump is all about making money for himself at any cost to his own country.
He and his mates are making a tidy profit out of all these fluctuations in the price of oil.
Whitewavemark2
Free market in modern economic terms simply describes a capitalist economy with minimum government interference.
A totally free market in capitalist terms is known as laissez faire, but this can’t exist.
Oil has never been a free market it has always been controlled by a cartel, in peacetime OPEC set the minimum price, governments set the minimum price in any state by either subsidies or taxation.
Most commodities are traded globally, uncertainly or supply shortages causes buyers to offer more to secure supply they need, this happens hour by hour every day prices can double or halve in a few hours.
Price increase are a consequence of Trumps Iran war because other oil fields will become economic, supply will be replaced at a higher price. If Hormuz is closed for a long period within a year all the oil will be replaced by other sources at a higher price.
It's not financial meltdown it's inconvenient we will travel less because oil is too expensive, some goods will cost more, maybe you buy less.
On the other hand oil companies will pay more tax so this could be used to help those that are most affected
Free market in modern economic terms simply describes a capitalist economy with minimum government interference.
How dies that differ from laissez faire?
M0nica
The free market has existed since two groups met p and bartered one group's cattle for the other groups con. Who did best from the deal would depend on which item was most scarce each year.
I know what a 'free market' is. The 'barter' story is very questionable.
But, leaving that aside, due you contend that the effects of them haven't been as I described?
Being somewhat paranoid perhaps, a part of me wonders exactly why Trump has really got involved in this war. Follow the money ?
Free market in modern economic terms simply describes a capitalist economy with minimum government interference.
A totally free market in capitalist terms is known as laissez faire, but this can’t exist.
corn not con
The free market has existed since two groups met p and bartered one group's cattle for the other groups con. Who did best from the deal would depend on which item was most scarce each year.
Allira
M0nica
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
The free market dates to thousand's of years before Mrs Thatcher.
I was just thinking that it wasn't Mrs Thatcher who invented free markets!
I thought it was more like two or three hundred years, though, although perhaps it existed but didn't have a name before that time.
So, do you approve of it?
Does longevity equal good?
Are you happy with its consequences?
M0nica
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
The free market dates to thousand's of years before Mrs Thatcher.
I was just thinking that it wasn't Mrs Thatcher who invented free markets!
I thought it was more like two or three hundred years, though, although perhaps it existed but didn't have a name before that time.
SueDonim
I’ve read several times that there’s a lot of insider trading going on, people making money out of misery.
Yes. Sickening.
M0nica
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
The free market dates to thousand's of years before Mrs Thatcher.
So it did, MOnica. And the greater part of the world's population lived in what we would consider today to be abject poverty and died young from malnutrition and unchecked disease. It still happens in many countries.
But most of our generation, in our country, were brought up during the halcyon period of the post WW2 mixed economy' which provided a comprehensive NHS, free tertiary education, reasonably priced adult education, state run utilities which provided a decent service at a decent price, a cheap and extensive passenger transport system, decent council housing, and welfare intended, not to punish, but to tide people over during periods of hardship.
Life wasn't entirely rosy for everyone, there was still deprivation and poverty, but there were great improvements in in wellbeing and standards of living.
It was Thatcher's initiative to allow free market access to state services and to 'shrink the state' by privatising as much as she possibly could, which was continued by later governments, which has brought the country to the state it is in now. Strangely, 'free markets' seem to have returned, slowly but surely, us to what existed for centuries. Enormous wealth for the few and increasing difficulty and hardship for the rest...
M0nica
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
The free market dates to thousand's of years before Mrs Thatcher.
Like slavery, for example?
we are all being fooled but the poorest are being affected the most, wherever we are in the world
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
The free market dates to thousand's of years before Mrs Thatcher.
keepingquiet
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
That's about the sum of it, keepingquiet. Free markets have no altruistic concerns about the wellbeing of its customers.
It's called the free market aka Thatcherism. Make what you can while you can and the plebs don't matter.
sodapop
Why have BP's profits doubled since the start of the Iran war.? I don't suppose they are the only ones either.
Because when the price of oil goes up they make bigger profits.
Its like the housing market, the price of oil is decided by supply and demand
I do keep reading that Kushner etc have made billions.
Total corruption.
They are shorting the market. But I do not understand anything past that. I am useless when it comes to numbers.
www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortselling.asp
This is different than the insider trading that has been happening.
sodapop
Why have BP's profits doubled since the start of the Iran war.? I don't suppose they are the only ones either.
BP's profits have doubled because the oil they are selling now was bought at pre-war prices but they are selling it at the price they will have to pay in future (plus their profit, of course) now that the war has caused an increase in prices.
Their current profit will be based on the pre-war price that they paid.
SueDonim
I’ve read several times that there’s a lot of insider trading going on, people making money out of misery.
Yes. 🤬
Why have BP's profits doubled since the start of the Iran war.? I don't suppose they are the only ones either.
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