Thursday, May 28, 2009

The New C Word





A cartel is an organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production.

The
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a cartel of twelve countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. The cartel has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings among the oil ministers of its Member Countries.

REUTERS -- An OPEC statement formally confirming the decision said the organization "reiterated their firm commitment" to their quotas — organization members under quotes are still producing more than 800,000 barrels a day above the group's overall target level of just under 25 million barrels.

MP: So let me get this straight. OPEC is not a cartel (watch the video above), but the members have just met to engage in collusion to restrict output, and they are all now firmly committed to the production quotas they
agreed to maintain?!

11 Comments:

At 5/28/2009 9:32 PM, Blogger Kraut said...

Puh-lease. "We're not a cartel," my a**. Out of curiosity I looked up "cartel" on Wikipedia, and OPEC is used as an example of a cartel!

 
At 5/28/2009 10:10 PM, Anonymous gettingrational said...

Please don't mock the men who meet to limit production for price manipulation. They are merely an organization of obcessive/compulsive quota setters. An apology from the U.S. President will probably take place in Saudi Arabia next week for the labeling of OPEC as a cartel.

 
At 5/28/2009 10:22 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Free traders? What is the best response to to powerful cartel that has its finger on a vital commodity?

 
At 5/28/2009 10:30 PM, Anonymous Jim Egnor said...

Indeed kraut and gettingrational---

I, myself, am reviewing my options to join the Illuminati. "They" seem to be getting a lot of press lately.

Not sure how and where to join. I keep getting these cleverly "handwritten" invitations to join Donald Trump at various proverbial seminars and learn the secrets of financial independence.

I do believe these invites are from the Illuminati and I shall keep you informed as to the true intent of this "Donald Trump".

I sort of like the idea of limiting production for price manipulations as gettingrational pointed out. Sounds like a great pick up line in meeting fabulously wealthy women.

 
At 5/29/2009 12:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OPEC reminds me of the UAW. Isn't the UAW basically a labor cartel. It controls the supply of labor in an attempt to jack up wages.

 
At 5/29/2009 8:44 AM, Anonymous Superheater said...

CNBC is to economics journalism what Oprah is to psychology.

You expect them to get it right?

 
At 5/29/2009 9:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OPEC=Federal Reserve=Cartel=Price Fixing (period)

Round and round we go.

 
At 5/29/2009 6:06 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Please don't mock the men who meet to limit production for price manipulation"...

Well gettingrational, its our own fault considering the clowns we elected to Congress...


Its not like we didn't have more than enough of our own resources...


Robert Samuelson's got a great description here of part of the problem: The Bias Against Oil And Gas

 
At 5/29/2009 8:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The acronym OPEC should never again be used without the word cartel right behind it. This is the problem today. We can no longer be truthful with our words. We are required to dance around fact to avoid hurting ones feelings.

 
At 6/01/2009 2:13 AM, Anonymous Tommy Flanagan said...

> MP: So let me get this straight. OPEC is not a cartel (watch the video above), but the members have just met to engage in collusion to restrict output, and they are all now firmly committed to the production quotas they agreed to maintain?!

Yeah!!...

They're... not a cartel.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... that's the ticket.

Not a cartel... yeah...

YEAH..

 
At 6/01/2009 2:16 AM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

> You expect them to get it right?


No, I expect people to *know* exactly what you just suggested, and to tell them to shut the f*** up.


"Expect" isn't really quite the word. I don't actually expect it at all.

But if there was any justice, any rationality to this world, then yes, it would happen.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home