EYE-BALL on – “Economists” – puppets following the Pied Piper …

Title: Economists – puppets following the Pied Piper …

The Commonwealth Banks Economist spokesperson has this to say about the falling A$ and petrol prices today. Weak dollar to bring more petrol pump pain Posted September 26, 2011 17:04:45 The national average price of unleaded fuel fell to 143.6 cents per litre, but could increase with a weakening Australian dollar. Photo: The national average price of unleaded fuel fell to 143.6 cents per litre, but could increase with a weakening Australian dollar. The weakening Australian dollar is putting increasing pressure on petrol prices and will force motorists to pay more to fill up their cars in coming weeks. Figures from the Australian Institute of Petroleum show the national average price of unleaded petrol fell by almost one cent to 143.6 cents per litre last week. But CommSec chief economist Craig James says pump prices fell in only three of the eight capital cities – Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. He says the falling dollar will lead to more expensive fuel. “Certainly it’s heading the wrong way for motorists and it’s adding to more pain at the petrol pump,” he said. “Back in late July the Australian dollar was sitting at around about $US1.10 at that time. “Now, if we had have held at those sorts of levels, motorists would be paying probably around about 13 cents less per litre or around about $8.50 [less] to fill up the tank with petrol. “In Australian dollar terms, the Singapore gasoline price has risen by about 1 per cent, so it’s fair to say that the low prices that we’re seeing currently at the petrol pump are going to end over the next week to fortnight. “Not substantially so, but we are going to see the upward drift continue at petrol pumps around the nation.” Mr James says there has been some extreme price volatility throughout the states and territories over the past fortnight. “Canberra prices have risen by over 10 cents a litre – now you’d scratch your head to be able to find out some fundamental justification for that,” he said. “At the same time, Melbourne prices have been very volatile and in the last week they were down by four cents per litre. “It could be the fact of competition, it could be other things at play, but it certainly would be good to get the ACCC to ask the question about what is behind the moves.” Where has Mr James been when the Petrol Retailers have creeped petrol prices 20-30 c/litre since before the GFC? EYE-BALL Guru has monitored Petrol prices using the basic cost structures – TAPIS spot price, and the  A$vUS$ spot value convert to a A$  value at the Bowser.  Over a period since Mar ’11 – various spot checkers have been done to monitor whether the Jun/July 2008 parameters equating to a bowser price of $1.53 remained in proportional movements. A table representing these ‘spot checks’ appears below: [link to TAPIS Spot Price] – [link to historical TAPIS prices] … GFC: Jun/Jly 2008 10/03/2011 19/04/2011 21/08/2011 26/09/2011 Oil Price:TAPIS (US$) $145 $105.00 $128.00 $115.00 $115.46 $A/$US $0.9650 $1.0010 $1.0500 $1.0500 $0.9700 Converted Oil Price (A$) $150 $105 $122 $110 $119 Compariable Bowser Price: $1.53 $1.07 $1.24 $1.12 $1.21 Actual Bowser Price: $1.60 $1.30 $1.53 $1.45 $1.47 PRICE creep: N/A $0.23 $0.29 $0.33 $0.26 $Cost per/day of Price creep: $19,098,852 $23,776,552 $27,570,385 $21,245,234 [used 14million cars/50km p/day average/with 8.5km to litre] As can be seen from the table above – the price creep equates to daily profit increases to the Petrol retailers in the $10’s millions per day.  Quite a rip-off – and nobody thinks that petrol prices should be on the ACCC watch list. You would think that a ECONOMIST would be on top of this type of issue. Yet – Mr Clive James gets up in front of the camera each day telling his listeners his opinion on the markets and petrol price predictions. Why does he not do a decent job for his listeners highlighting the Petrol retailers rip-offs as disclosed above. ________________________________________ The EYE-BALL Opinion …

EYE-BALL on – The Mexican Drug Deaths and Murder rates … a follow-up……

Title: The Mexican Drug Deaths and Murder rates … a follow-up…

In February 2011 the EYE-BALL posted a blog about the Mexican Drug War. -[read here] – it was about the then discovery of 40 massacred bodies in a drug related execution. The research undertaken at the time uncovered some horrific stories – a revisit to some of that research and an update on recent events once again dictate that this is a ‘hotspot’ that the rest of the World is ignoring. The deaths emanate over the drug Cartels and their product – particularly cocaine – and some 90% of all American usage of cocaine is shipped from Mexico.  It’s a estimated $13 billion business at the wholesale end and this is a problem that nobody wants to really own. Some 5 years ago the new Mexican President engaged the Army to fight the Cartels – the reason was because the Police force had been totally compromised.   Some 40,000 Mexicans – many of whom are innocent bystanders or victims forced into the drug trade as carriers or other because of financial circumstances. The Army enforcement has not worked – Americas assistance has also not worked – the horrific deaths being inflicted on the Journalists who report and editoralise on the Cartels  and the atrocities are more atrocious than you can imagine.  Whole families are being slaughtered. This is not mainstream media for the rest of the World  to see – you can read a story on the latest Journalist deaths using [this link] – a Q&A site that answers many questions on the Authorities fight against the drug war can be read using [this link] – Would Mexico be the drug murder Nation it is if Americans did not need the illicit drugs  – it is another example of America’s problems being inflicted on other Nations – i.e. cheap production of the drugs outside of America and the bribes offered to local law enforcement cost a lot less outside America than inside America. The deal is that what America wants – America gets by exploitation of the poverty driven economies looking to take life threatening risks to survive – This is a sleeper of a problem we have known about since the 60’s – 50 years later and all Governments are doing is throwing money at the problem – what is a permanent fix?   ________________________________________ The EYE-BALL Opinion …