Biggest On The Job Screwup EVER

[Hell Toupee]

'Drunken' Broker Sent Oil to 8-Month High in 2009

On June 30, 2009, oil mysteriously jumped by more than $1.50 a barrel during the night, to reach its highest price in eight months, the kind of swing that is caused by a major geopolitical event.

Although not authorized to invest company cash in trades, Steve Perkins, a long standing, senior broker at PVM Oil Futures, had managed to spend $520 million on oil futures contracts throughout the night, the FSA said.

On the morning of the 30th, an admin clerk called Perkins to ask why he had bought 7 million barrels of crude during the night. Perkins had no recollection of the transactions, and it turned out that he had made the trades during a ?drunken blackout," according to the FSA.

Between the hours of 1:22 a.m. and 3:41 a.m., Perkins gradually bought

69 percent of the global market, while driving prices up from $71.40 to $73.05, by bidding higher each time.

At 6:30 a.m., presumably sobering up and realizing what he?d done, he sent a message to his managing director claiming an unwell relative meant he would not be able to make it into work.

[krw]

Chump change, compared to what Obama has done to the US.

[krw]

No, you're full of BO. That's nothing new to anyone, though.

[David Kaye]

wrote

Which is WHAT, exactly? The stock market has gone through the roof (from

8000 to 13000 today); people have lots of spending money now, otherwise they wouldn't be spending big money for gasoline.

Tourism here in San Francisco is WAY UP. This weekend San Francisco expects

1,500,000 visitors to come here; 750,000 to attend the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert (6 stages, 3 days), the America's Cup races, the Blue Angels flying team, the Castro Street Fair, the Giants playoff opener, and the 49ers. About 3/4 of those folks are from out of town, so they MUST have money to spend, no?

Big business is supporting Obama now because he's been DAMNED GOOD for the economy these past 3 years.

[Ed Pawlowski]

50% of my business depends on new housing. Where is it? I won't bore you with the details, but IMO, business still sucks.

[Kurt Ullman]

Stock market through the roof? Four years in and DJIA and S&P 500 haven't gotten back to their last highs?

>

[trader4]

So damned good that GDP is growing at 1.2% and the FED had to just start another massive injection of liquidity into the economy because they believe it may be rolling over. So damned good that the median family income has dropped $4,000 in the last 4 years, from $55,000 to $51,000. The stock market is doing very well in large part because the FED has flooded the economy with money and with the economy being weak, the demand for money just isn't there. Interest rates are near zero, so a lot of that money flows into stocks.

Of course if Romney or any Republican suggested that Americans are doing just fine, have plenty of money, why they'd be out of touch with reality, right? Even Joe Biden himself said just a few days ago that "the middle class has been buried the last 4 years".

[clare]

I'll tell you where it is. In the 10 previous years of overheated market when you couldn't keep up.

[Jim Elbrecht]

Really, Kurt? The DOW opened in the low 8000s the day Obama was inaugurated. It is now at 13000+.

The day Bush was inaugurated the DOW was in the mid 10K's . So Bush

*loses* 20% in 8 years, and Obama *gains* 60% or so in 4. The DOW *loves* Obama. [actually it is a Democrat thing-- the DOW *loves* D's, historically] Jim

[Stormin Mormon]

The Federal Reserve has been inflating the money supply. How much of that dow increase is actual value, and how much is due to inflation?

I was in a McDonalds, last week. The hot fudge sundae off the dollar menu now is over 1.60 with tax. That doesn't mean that Obama increased the actual value of the sundae.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

The DOW opened in the low 8000s the day Obama was inaugurated. It is now at 13000+.

The day Bush was inaugurated the DOW was in the mid 10K's . So Bush

*loses* 20% in 8 years, and Obama *gains* 60% or so in 4. The DOW *loves* Obama. [actually it is a Democrat thing-- the DOW *loves* D's, historically] Jim

[HeyBub]

I think the stock market is doing well because business are still making a profit, although a much smaller profit than before. These businesses, however, are not SPENDING their profits on new plants, equipment, or employees due to the monumental uncertainty in the financial markets. So, they distribute a significant portion of these accrued profits as dividends. These increased dividends make the stocks more valuable.

For example, I got my quarterly dividend check from Microsoft yesterday. If was $4,000, up from $3,200 the quarter before.

Now we know what "shovel-ready" jobs the administration was talking about...

[Bill]

I think one reason stocks are doing well because they look like the most convenient hedge against inflation: They might preserve the "real value" of the investment (whereas money in the bank is sure to lose value to inflation). Of course, they might not too! Have fun.

[Pete C.]

The "recovery" is smoke and mirrors from the "quantitative easing". The unemployment numbers are mostly new seasonal jobs that will be gone by February. The damage to the US economy goes far far deeper than housing or jobs and is due to the mismanagement of decades of administrations left and right.

We are heading into a new Greater Depression that will make the original Great depression look like nothing. There isn't going to be a WWII to pull us out of it either so recovery will be very difficult.

Take advantage of the "recovery" to sell your overpriced micro-mansion and downsize to something you can buy without a mortgage. That will at least help keep a roof over your head during the new Greater Depression.

[Pete C.]

Bingo! Smoke and mirrors. The left leaning economists on NPR have said the same thing, that the "quantitative easing" is going to have us screwed for 15-20 years based on past history.

[Jim Elbrecht]

You do know that the inflation for the past 4 years is a lot less than it was for the previous 4 or 8, right?

Jim

[Stormin Mormon]

Gasoline went from 1.85 to 4.15. Sundae at McDonalds went from 1.00 to 1.49

Less inflation, my ass.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

You do know that the inflation for the past 4 years is a lot less than it was for the previous 4 or 8, right?

Jim

[Kurt Ullman]

Not hard to do when you have an economy so rocky that there is a year of deflation. Other than that year (2009) and the following year, President Obama had the two highest rates of inflation during the period in question (back to 2002).

[The Daring Dufas]

When I was in college, gasoline was 22cents a gallon at the rural stations and a Wopper, fry and a coke was a dollar. $5.00/hr was considered a high paying job. We had a space program and men landing on the moon too. WTF happened? ^_^

TDD

[Jim Elbrecht]

Where did you get those numbers?

the highest 3 years [2002-2011] as 2004, 5, & 7.

In 8 years Bush stayed under 2% twice-- Obama already has 2

[NotMe]

Perhaps you're in the wrong business ...