OIL PRICES HAS GONE UP NOT BECAUSE OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY PROBLEMS BUT MORE SO BECAUSE OF EXCESSIVE SPECULATION AND THE DEPRECIATION OF THE USD.

That the price of our petrol is extremely high and burdensome to the Rakyat when comparing our purchasing power parity with those of other countries is indeed apt; by such comparison, our petrol and diesel prices are among the highest in the world ( http://kadirjasin.blogspot.com/)

A graver concern is the direction of our leadership as it dances directly with the tunes of the US administration and its agencies like the IMF ever since PM took over. Being the 17^th greatest trading nation in the world with a substantial amount of trade directly with US and most of its trading conducted in USD dominated currency, the country’s fortune is tied to the extreme volatility of the US currency. The Government is considered imprudent if it does not address the source of this predicament rather than simply telling the rakyat just to tighten their belts and change their lifestyles.

OIL PRICES HAS GONE UP NOT BECAUSE OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY PROBLEMS BUT MORE SO BECAUSE OF EXCESSIVE SPECULATION AND THE DEPRECIATION OF THE USD.

Quote & Unquote below

(http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/crude-oil-futures-surge-dollar/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3A39E99%2DD68C%2D4872%2DAD8F%2D752CF3735888%7D#comment297925)

Oil prices shot higher by almost $11 a barrel on Friday, scoring their biggest one-day gain in dollar terms as talk about a potential Israeli attack on Iran combined with a slide in the U.S. dollar to send prices to their highest levels on record.

All of those factors helped contribute to oil's latest big surge, "but fear by far is the biggest driver right now," said Kevin Kerr, president of Kerr Trading International.

Pressuring the dollar, the U.S. government reported the unemployment rate in May jumped to 5.5%, the highest since October 2004 and the biggest increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment in 33 years. A weaker greenback tends to boost the price of dollar-denominated commodities, such as oil, as it makes them cheaper for holders of other currencies.

It "looks a lot like a recession to us," wrote Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for Merk Investments. Employment is one of the main indicators used to judge whether the economy is growing or contracting.

Such problems cannot be tackled singly by Malaysia because they are international problems and therefore should be tackled in togetherness with the affected international community. Hence, where’s our local leadership to garner the support of the international community against the speculators and the fall out from the US recession i.e the depreciation of the USD?

If we lost our subsidies to the speculators, why should we not fight back what is rightfully ours?

That we are a net exporter of oil and yet Petronas do not make a sen as per its latest the financial year end needs greater scrutiny – were there excessive speculation in the Nation’s resources which belong to the people?

The clamor now is for the development alternative energy sources and improvement of a more efficient public transportation system but all these will take a long time. The cost of exploration and upgrading of petroleum facilities will continue and will be expensive because of the depreciating USD. Such actions and other actions taken by the Government in connection with substantial development/ capital expenditure will be looked with most skepticism or frown because the immediate benefactors are considered the 1^st Family and their co-hoots who will be awarded the big contracts; there is no confidence in the present leadership in steering the country.

In the meantime, it looks like under the House of Badawi, our country is on the speediest course to be the next colony of the United States. PM and his yes men has yet to demonstrate their ability to confront or take the bull by the horns, rather they simply follow the norms of the market practices in resolving these strategic issues such as advocated by the IMF and other similar agencies. Already incompetent, the House of Badawi is so bewildered with the situation that it can’t see the trees from the forest. The culprits being speculators and the depreciation USD, the blame is on the subsidies. Most countries have some form of subsidies even the US, the European Union etc have their own form of subsidies. And the GATT/ APEC talks eg the removal of protectionist policies have affected local industries eg the sale of our National car; its free market enterprise everywhere and that nations succumb to the giant enterprises of the Anglo American designs in dominating the economies of the world.

Then we have ministers like Shahrir who eagerly propagate the removal of subsidies in reforming our economic system to open market practices. We have a back door defacto law minister who advocates an urgent reform of the judicial system in bringing it up to be the epitome in the world yet misuses the resources of the country to make life difficult for TDM. The weak leadership continuously succumbs to the wishes of the Bar Council and other human rights group threatening the fundamentals and practices of Islam in this country while advocating a populist reform towards religious tolerances in this country. There are many more populist and liberal reforms being undertaken at the detriment of the existing social contract among the races. All these are bringing our country closer to the designs of Malaysian Malaysia and the Ketuanan Rakyat being the affirmative policy of DSAI based on merits. How I wish it’s so easy for the Malays to go into business dominated by the other races where the affirmative merit system has not place. Thus the very fabric of our society’s structure is being torn apart slowly but surely fueled by the so many populist liberal reforms.

It is extremely sad to see that the top leadership of the country as well as in the opposition making up of so-called elite Malays being manipulated consciously or unconsciously by the Anglo-American designs to dominate the people of Malaysia in togetherness with the advocates of local human rights groups especially the Malaysian Bar Council and those closely associated with them. The future of our country appears most bleak if we continue to have unscrupulous leaders such as AAB, DSAI & SIL at the helm of our country who seemed so contented to be closely associated with these foreign designs. The present Executive cannot lead but yet he is led by a bunch of incompetent and inexperienced yes men to ensure a legacy for him and his SIL. It is indeed the classic case of the blind or half blind leading the blind while they discard the realities of past precedents and norms which have made the country once resilient, politically stable and peaceful. Flip Flop = incompetence.

Lastly, it’s most sad to-day to hear my daughter complaining that at her school, the cost of a bun with sausage/ hot dog has gone up by 50 sen to RM2.00. So we went to a hyper market to buy her ration for 4 days of similar food supposedly at a cheaper price without taking into consideration the extra-cost of mileage. I am sure prices of most necessities will escalate in the days to come and soon there will be massive public demonstrations. I was told that the police will be hard with these demonstrations. Should these public demonstrations get out of hand, shouldn’t we blame those 4^th Floor boys who advocate a police state like that of Singapore? I hate the thought of being caught in the traffic jams arising from the public demonstrations and police action; my petrol consumption will be costly and most unbearable.

Yes, the country is certainly doomed fueled even more by the recent dramatic increase in petrol and diesel prices; we need to change the present Flip Flop leadership pronto FULL STOP.

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