Dubai seems to be the only oil producing country putting the money to good use for a sustainable future. The rest needs to wake up.
norway's doing the same too Norway vs. the Oil Curse. - By Daniel Gross - Slate Magazine adrian, that's what i meant by distorting the economy. I don't believe in subsidies, even if the government was all good and stuff to be honest, as I believe it's an unfair tax credit system which favours the middle classes and the rich over the poor and the price at the gas pumps in the uk currently are about 2.02 CAD
Oh, I'm not saying that it's a good thing to perpetuate a fuel subsidy. In fact, it's always best to let market forces dictate the cost of fuel, as painful as that may be. Higher fuel costs would force people to adopt a more conservative and economical approach to the use of fuel, which is always a good thing. Removing the fuel subsidy also prevents foreigners (e.g. Singaporeans, Thais) from abusing the privilege. However, our government has a VERY POOR track record of using the oil money for proper development. In fact, you can say that most of the proceeds from our petroleum sale have gone to waste, if not the pockets of our politicians, their families and their cronies. What have they done for the people? Absolutely nothing. After over 50 years of independence and decades of reaping the benefits of our oil fields, we have yet to really improve the quality of living for our people. So many are still so poor. The average salary has not gone up in the last decade even though everything else has. So, with that in mind, I am FOR fuel subsidy. In fact, I also believe that it is not only the right but also the DUTY of every loyal Malaysian to exploit the tax codes to ensure that they pay absolutely nothing more than legally necessary in taxes to the government. If we cannot force the government to make proper use of our tax money, we should do our utmost to deny them the money. This includes standing up for fuel subsidy at the moment.
I pay $3.50 a gallon for premium here. (1 gallon = ~3.78 liters. $3.50 = 11.53 MYR, 3.47 CAD) Free market ftw.
Hmm.. Apparently, the trader who caused the price to jump to $100 a barrel did it for the fame of being the first to own $100 oil. He bought like a 1000 barrels (lowest possible amount) and immediately sold them for a loss of $600. Just for his 15 seconds of fame.
that still doesn't really change anything. the trend in the last few years has of been a rise and rise and rise......actually i'm hoping that oil prices will breach about usd 120 by the end of this year, although if the slowdown starts in the US that might not happen
Oh, of course, but the $100 mark is a psychological barrier. Now that it has been breached, people know it's not impossible for it to go way above $100. It may not have a real impact on oil prices, but it will have an impact on what people think and do in 2008. This time, the rise in price is mainly because of increased demand in China and India. Even if there is a recession in the US and demand for oil drops in the US, the price of oil will still remain pretty high.
