Petro Dollars Bail Out The CITI

And here is more news from Dubai Investments Inc. Petro-Dollars from the middle east bail out the sub prime victims of U.S. excess.No not the mortgage holders or home owners, but the greedy capitalists. They can always expect to get bailed out if not by the Federal Reserve than the Oil Reserves in the Middle East.

And who is going raise the specter of American Security interests over this Wall Street take over? Why no-one, well perhaps Lou Dobbs. This is globalization in action. Just what it's proponents predicted, but not as they expected.

Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, will receive a $7.5 billion cash infusion from Abu Dhabi to replenish capital after record mortgage losses.

Citigroup rose 5.7 percent in German trading after acting Chief Executive Officer Win Bischoff said in a statement late yesterday that Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will help ``strengthen our capital base.''

Abu Dhabi will buy securities that convert into stock and yield 11 percent a year, almost double the interest Citigroup offers bond investors, underscoring the New York-based company's need for cash. Citigroup's fourth-quarter profit will be reduced by as much as $7 billion because of losses from subprime mortgages, which led to the departure of CEO Charles O. ``Chuck'' Prince III and a 45 percent slump in the company's stock.

``Clearly, Citi has a problem with capital adequacy after the subprime crisis,'' said Giyas Gokkent, head of research at National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC, Abu Dhabi's biggest bank by market value. ``ADIA has seen an opportunity to get cheaply into a blue-chip stock.''

With the purchase of a 4.9 percent stake, Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, would rank as Citigroup's largest shareholder ahead of Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos. and Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Depleted Capital

The investment follows purchases by U.A.E. fund Dubai International Capital LLC in companies including London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, and New York-based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management LLC. In Abu Dhabi, state-backed Mubadala Development Co. agreed to buy 7.5 percent of Washington-based buyout firm Carlyle Group. ADIA also owns a stake in Leon Black's New York-based buyout firm Apollo Management LP.

While Joe and Jane Consumer in America get no relief, which only will mean even more American retailers will go crash this shopping season as they desperately drop their prices as fast as the U.S. dollar's decline. It is a season full of desperation.

Holiday shoppers spending carefully
Deep discounts lure, but analysts wary

Discounted sweaters, laptops and personal GPS navigation systems drew large crowds during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, according to several early surveys, but customers also appeared to temper their spending amid concerns over the economy.

Despite positive signs over the weekend, analysts cautioned yesterday that retailers must keep enticing customers with bargains to sustain momentum through the end of the year. Several retailers and economists say this holiday shopping season could be the worst in five years, in part because of the slumping housing market and higher energy costs.

Retail Desperation on Display in Early Hours

Upbeat holiday shopper traffic on Black Friday may prove short lived


Wall St little changed as investors track retail sales

The lackluster start of trading followed a market rally Friday as big retailers unveiled hefty discounts to lure shoppers into the nation's malls.

"So long as consumer spending keeps rising, the economy will stay out of recession," said Dick Green, an analyst at Briefing.com.

Other analysts said retail sales so far appeared to have been relatively robust over the weekend despite a housing market slump and a related credit crunch.

Banking giant Citigroup is meanwhile planning its second round of "large-scale" layoffs in less than 12 months, according to a report by the CNBC business television channel which cited people with knowledge of the matter.

SEE

Bank Smack Down

9/11

U.S. Economy Entering Twilight Zone

tags
homes, mortgages, housing, bubble, US, economy, CITI, sub-prime mortgage, Wall Street, crash, recession,
China, Greenspan, correction, capitalism, stocks, markets, capitalism
US dollar, oil, Islamic Banking, US, economy, petro-dollars, trade deficit, Imperialism, OMX,
NYPorts, Lou Dobbs, UAE, Dubai, Dubai Ports, MGM,

Danny Millions State Capitalist

Quick someone tell the Tired Old Tories in Alberta, Oil companies accept state capitalism. That whippersnapper Danny Williams is demanding a stake in oil development, on top of royalties. While in Alberta the same oil companies whine about any increase in their royalty windfall of paying 1% annually for 25 years.

The government of Newfoundland has agreed to buy a 5 percent stake in a planned expansion of Husky Energy Inc's White Rose offshore oil field, Canadian Press reported on Wednesday.

The Canadian province of Newfoundland plans to take a 10 pct stake in new oil and gas projects off its coastline, the province's government said.

The demand was contained in the provinces 35-year energy plan released yesterday by Premier Danny Williams.

The province will take a 10 pct stake in future offshore oilfields if they meet long-term strategic objectives and will pay its share of exploration and development costs, he said.

Newfoundland wants a bigger share in future energy projects, and oil companies say the demand is a reasonable point of negotiation for new projects.

Newfoundland described itself as an "energy warehouse," with natural resources unmatched by most other jurisdictions in North America. Given the possibility of Newfoundland being "a significant player on the international stage," Premier Danny Williams named "control" as one of three main energy goals, planning a provincially owned energy corporation to play a major role in future developments.

Paul Barnes, the St. John's-based spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said state equity stakes are common throughout the world beyond North America and Europe. He said his members are prepared to negotiate exact figures for specific deals. "It's not overly concerning to our members that equity participation is on the table here because we experience it on worldwide basis."

Except in Alberta where the the Republican Lite Tories bend over for the Oil industry.

They forget that State Capitalism is as Canadian as Saskatoon Berry Pie.


See:

Williams Out Deals Stelmach

Transparency Alberta Style

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Williams Out Deals Stelmach

Newfoundland's Danny Boy brings home the bacon while Albertans suffer from a-give-away-a-day by Eddie Stelmach. And both of 'em are Conservative Premiers.

For months, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has stared down the country's largest oil companies. Wednesday, "Big Oil" -- as the bombastic Williams likes to call the multinationals -- blinked.

At a St. John's news conference, the premier announced a "memorandum of understanding" outlining a deal that will develop the $5-billion Hebron offshore oil project located 350 kilometres southeast of the provincial capital. In a rare public-private arrangement, the province will invest $110 million in return for a 4.9-per-cent equity stake in the venture. Williams said that will amount to about 35 million barrels of oil out of a possible overall haul of 700 million barrels.

On the royalty side, the province received an improved rate structure that would deliver a new royalty of 6.5 per cent of net revenues when oil prices exceed $50 a barrel.

William's victory of State Capitalism for the Public Good is a lesson for Stelmach as Erin Weir points out;

Williams’ victory clearly contradicts the view that oil is a “globally competitive” business in which governments need to give away substantial resource rents to get investment. In fact, Canadian governments have a very strong bargaining position because our country hosts more than half of global reserves open to private investment. Even the Premier of a small, poor province successfully stood up to the multinational oil companies. This outcome begs the broader question of why larger, richer provinces collect such unimpressive royalties on the depletion of their finite oil and gas reserves.

The irony is that Eddie wants to adopt some practices from Newfoundland, unfortunately not those dealing with oil/resource ownership and royalties. As they used to say about Red Rose Tea; 'Pity'.

Stelmach wants to find out how the Newfoundland and Labrador cellphone driving ban, implemented in 2003, has affected vehicle accident rates in that province.

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Oil Speculation

The reason for the gas gouging at the pump. Speculation in the oil market.

Algerian Energy Minister: shortage of oil supply does not cause prices rise According to him, doubts are surrounding oil markets; which has been used by speculators to raise the prices.


Oil mergers forcing prices up: study

Oil rises ahead of US inventory data

Oil Prices Rise After Inventory Report

Oil rises as warships enter Gulf

BP leak reduces Alaskan oil flow

Oil, gasoline futures end higher; traders weigh supply risk



ags:

gasoline, gas gouging, gas prices, big oil, petrochemical, refinery,

Gas Gouging

Gas gouging is here again. The reason of course is that it is spring. And prices rise in the spring just like dandelions.

PILGRIM: Now, this spring, gas price is an annual event. In 22 of the last 23 years, prices have risen some time after March 15th and go up until about mid-May.

The Center for Policy Alternatives reports that Canadians are paying as much as 27 cents per litre too much for gas.

 "For example, drivers in Toronto are currently being overcharged 15 cents
per litre," Mackenzie says. The situation is the same across the country: 
in Halifax drivers arecurrently overpaying 19 cents per litre;
21 cents per litre in Winnipeg; 18 cents per litre in Edmonton;
and a whopping 27 cents per litre in Vancouver.

You can use their handy dandy tool to find out how much you are being
screwed by Big Oil.

And from GasBuddy.com

Edmonton
Today 104.855
Yesterday 104.877
One Week Ago 105.102
One Month Ago 98.740
One Year Ago 101.510

Using the above price for gas Hugh Mackenzie's Gas price gouge: The sequel.calculator finds that in Edmonton;

Your gas prices are 21.1¢ per litre above the normalized cost of 82.9¢ per litre in Edmonton
With today's crude oil price of $62.01 USD per barrel and the US dollar at $1.11 CAD, the price of regular unleaded gasoline in Edmonton should be 82.9¢ per litre at normal profit margins. At a price of $1.04 per litre, you are paying 21.1¢ per litre in pure excess profit. Across Canada, an extra margin of 21.1¢ per litre generates an additional profit of 21.1 million dollars per day

Further from Gasbuddy.com we find that prices for gas have steadily increased over the past six years.

"Expect even higher profits, especially during the second and third quarters, their busiest season," said Jason Toews, co-founder of gasbuddy.com, a website that compares gas prices across the country. Toews predicts prices will peak at $1.30 a litre for self-serve, regular unleaded by August. This means more money for Big Oil, while gas retailers, Toews says, are making very little.

And even if there is competition between Gas Stations over prices this happens; Wisconsin Gas Station Owner Ordered To Raise Prices

So much for the free market.

And even without provincial and federal taxes on gasoline, that Linda Letherdale and her pals at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation whine about, the price would still be going up.

Oil prices rose Thursday despite a U.S. report showing that stocks of gasoline, crude and distillate fuels all rose,

"At this point it doesn't even matter any more what the reasons behind the price rise are," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada.

He said consumers are "exhausted and frustrated" and are being gouged at the pumps for reasons that aren't clear.

"We've got no satisfactory explanations as to why these huge price rises take place year after year," said Cran, whose group received hundreds of calls Tuesday from motorists looking for answers.

According to MJ Ervin & Associates Inc. a Calgary-based consulting firm, the national average price of gas on Tuesday was reported at about $1.10 a litre, up five cents from the average price in March and 19 cents from the average price in January.

"This is a trend that we see every spring," said Catherine Hay, Senior Associate with MJ Ervin and Associates.

"This is something that we see in anticipation of the big driving season every year," she said.

Hay said this time last year the national average gas price was $1.08, only two cents lower that this year

Just like dandelions

tags:

Canada, Edmonton, gasoline, gas gouging, gas prices, big oil, petrochemical, refinery,

Petro Dollars and U.S. Debt

An interesting post on the U.S. Debt and the U.S. Dollar as it relates to American Petro-Economy Imperialism

Cost, abuse and danger of the dollar

By Rudo de Ruijter,
Independent Researcher
Netherlands

Camouflaged conflicts

To keep the permanent demand for dollars going, oil sales must remain in dollars. That is why the US tries to keep as much influence as possible, as well on the US owned IPE and NYMEX world oil markets, as with the people in power in oil exporting countries. By doing so the US secures its oil supply at the same time. Beyond that, lucrative contracts can be obtained from the local governments, and with these contracts a maximum of benefits can be seized from the oil production.

Fear always wins over reason

But when the local governments do not want to sell their oil in dollars anymore, the US has a problem. Then, the US-president will not explain how dependent the US is on the dollar demand. The conflict is always camouflaged. And to do so, always an emotional theme is chosen. In times gone by this was the danger of communists, today it is the danger of terrorists, fundamentalists and other popular bogies, like “the enemy has weapons of mass destruction” or “the enemy tries to make nukes.”

The fact that there is, rationally, not a single proof for such allegations, does not matter. The emotions always win. Even the fact, that these accusations could be turned around and then can be proved, is noticed by hardly anyone. There was no proof Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, but the US, the accuser, has weapons of mass destruction and has used them. There is no proof Iran has intentions for nukes, but the US, the accuser, has nukes and has used them, and, afterwards, repeatedly threatened to use them again.

But once again, at the moment accusations are loaded with emotions, humans switch off their intelligence. Then, reason is no argument for peace anymore. The theatre is only about the launched accusations. And because, as a result, only specialists of weapons of mass destruction or nukes are called upon to give their opinion, nearly nobody finds out what the conflict is really about.

Venezuela

In Venezuela, since many years, the US tries to pull down president Chavez, pretexting he is a dangerous communist. Chavez has nationalized the oil industry and has set up Barter-deals to export Venezuelan oil in exchange for medical care from Cuba and others. In Barter deals there is no necessity for dollars and the US has no profit from the oil trade.

Iraq

Until 1990 the US maintained lucrative commercial contacts with Saddam Hussein. He was a good ally. For instance, in 1980 he had tried to free the hostages at the US-embassy in Teheran.

But in 1989 Saddam accused Kuwait of flooding the oil market and making the oil price go down. The following year Saddam tried to annex Kuwait. It led to an immediate turn around of the attitude of the US. With the annexation Saddam would dispose of 20 percent of world oil reserves. The Iraqis were chased out of Kuwait by the US, with an alliance of 134 countries, and condemned to water and bread by a UN-embargo that lasted ten years.

Although the US sought a way to re-establish its influence in Iraq, Saddam’s switch to the Euro on November 6, 2000 [9], would lead to the US invasion. The dollar sank away and in July 2002 the situation got that serious, that the IMF warned that the dollar might collapse. [10] A few days later the plans for an attack were discussed at Downing Street. [11] One month later Cheney proclaimed it was sure now, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. [12] With this pretext the US invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003. The US switched back the oil trade into dollars on June 5, 2003. [13]

There is a huge difference between trading Iraqi oil in euros and trading it in dollars. This will be explained below. (See: “How do you steal oil reserves?”)

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