Was Putin right about Syria? (of course he was)

[Plane]

  Denial is strong in this one, yes.

   

[sirs]

Indeed, Jedi Master Plane

[Xavier_Onassis]

Note please that both the DJIA and the S&P are at all time record highs.
When Obama was elected, experts said it would take ten years to return to 2008 highs.

Worshipping Reagan does not make the old bastard a hero./

[sirs]

I also recall when both were reaching their highs under previous GOP Presidents, the issue became only the rich were getting richer, so yea, you can cherry pick a few of the better occurances happening under this President, despite his policies, though I noticed the issue of the amount of folks no longer looking for work wasn't brought up.  The Debt wasn't brought up, nor the deficit, nor the spiraling out of control middle east conflict, or the disaster befalling our entire Foreign policy, as Russia & China start to bully more and more of the region.  But at least Xo's getting his, and that's all that matters.

Worshipping Obama doesn't make him any better than that perhaps the worst modern day President, in our history, as he leaves it far worse off than when he took office...and he hasn't even left yet

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am not worshipping Obama. I just like him a lot more than Reagan.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am certainly not the only one who is doing well in Obama's term.
It was inevitable that Russia, which has a huge amount of gas and oil, would have more political power once it was no longer in a state of chaos.
It was inevitable that once China took advantage of its ability to manufacture consumer products and export then cheaply.
It is not Obama's fault. This country has as coherent a foreign policy as it has ever had.
It is easy for Switzerland to have a coherent foreign policy, as its exports are few and its exporters have common interests.
It is difficult for the US, because we have and will always have contradictory interests. Big Oil wants us to make nice to the Saudis.  AIPAC wants us to make nice to Israel. The Saudis and the Zionists cannot stand one another. Airlines want competition between Airbus and Boeing. Boeing wants the US to favor Boeing.

The Republicans have not had a balanced budget since the 1950's The Democrats came close at the end of Carter's term. And Juniorbush gave it away.

[sirs]

Of course you're not the only one....the rich get richer.  The folks that have the means to invest also get richer.  And with all that bloviating, under this President, and Democrat party, our unemployment, debt, and economic situation is exponentially worse, than when he took office. 

and you can pretend that everything that China & Russia is doing was "inevitable", but without a crystal ball, you have no fricken clue.  I can be just as opionated, that under a President Romney, China & Russia would have done no such thing, noting a CnC, that would actually back up his word vs drawing imaginary lines, that even Syria can cross without repercussions

[Plane]

Big Oil wants us to make nice to the Saudis.

They do not.

If I owned a Texas oilfield and I heard that the Saudis were angry enough to stop production < I would celebrate < enthusiastically.

[Xavier_Onassis]

If you owned Exxon you would not celebrate. The major oil companies are close allies of the Saudis, as they market, transport and refine the stuff, which is where much of the profits are.

[Plane]

   And they do not celebrate when what they actually own triples in value?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The various large oil companies around the world, except for, on occasion, Gazprom, are allies, since the refinery, delivery and retailing  processes are as lucrative and occasionally more lucrative, than the pumping process.

[Plane]

The Saudis have a lot of clout.

They run their country oil patch like a family business and they can produce enough to cheapen the oil.

So they run OPEC.

   The companies of the world ,( including those owned by the nations government where they reside) cooperate, but not because they conspire, they just get told what to do by the big dog.


     DeBeers does this same thing with diamonds, it is not necessary to corner a market to control it, just having enough to ruin the price for the other players is control.


       When OPEC embargoed the US , the companies that had oil or gas to sell sold it dear. How could they do otherwise?

       I can't see that the OPEC embargo cost domestic oil producers anything.

      BTW Saddam Hussein broke the embargo and made a mint. The control of the Saudis through OPEC depends on market share control , pulling back like that improved the position of anyone not in the cartel with oil to sell.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The oil embargo cost the Saudis a lot. That is why they tried it only once.

You have drifted far away from the subject.

[Plane]

  The dynamics of oil price have a bit to do with Putin Power .

     But perhaps it is not central to this topic.

      What would you call the center peg of what we are discussing in this  thread?

[Xavier_Onassis]

That the US is capable of having a coherent foreign policy was what I thought it was.

I say the US has NEVER had a coherent foreign policy, certainly not in recent years, no matter who was president.

This is a large and very diverse country economically and the government is overrun with lobbyists, many of whom conflict with one another.