For the record, I was "out there" in January calling for this recent run-up in energy prices. In fact, on more than one occasion, I literally dropped to my knees on TV and pleaded with the Obama Administration to buy 300 million barrels to beef up our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

(See Street Meat Jan 27, 2009)

At $33 per barrel then, they would have saved America $12 billion.

In an era where "trillion" is thrown around Washington like H2O, $12 billion doesn't sound like much -- but $12 billion is still a lot of money!

That was then....This is now....

Now that oil has risen sharply (to over $70 per barrel) in a few short months, there is no doubt that prices may ease a bit.

My gut is that $50 will be a strong floor to prices. However, as long as there are thuggish dictators ruling the major oil producing countries, oil will be susceptible to price spikes.

Think Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Thug Dictator (2+ million barrels per day).

Mohammed Ahmadinejad, Iran’s Thug Dictator (3.5+ million bad).

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s real leader and a Thug Dictator (9+ million bad).

Bottom line...

Expect wild swings in oil prices going forward as the world’s oil supply rests in the grasp of greedy leaders interested in lining their personal bank account and hurting their enemy -- America.

Now, Congress is trying to sell the American people a load of snake oil cutely named "cap and trade." If it walks like a tax and quacks like a tax...it’s a TAX.

Also affecting oil prices is the most recent erroneous target of high energy prices -- speculators. An easy target, but speculators lose money at times too.

The real reason oil isn't cheap: We import billions of dollars worth of the stuff instead of drilling our own plentiful sources.  We are sitting on hundreds of billions of barrels of recoverable oil right here in the U.S.

If you want to send a message to OPEC and the thugs dictating our energy prices, tell your Congressman that you are in favor of accessing our many domestic oil reserves instead of sending our hard earned income to people who hate us.

Then sit back and watch prices (and Oil Thugs) fall.

In twenty + years as an oil trader I have developed a unique understanding of various oil dictators. Vlad Putin in Russia, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, the late Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Bolivias Evo Morales are some. But the most dangerous of the group IMO is Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's self-proclaimed "Dictator For Life".
Chavez has directed oil to China in the middle of an oil shock in the U.S. just to hurt us. After all, it cost him more to send that oil across the sea to a far away China rather than ship it to our refineries located in nearby West Coast plants.
Chavez has called a sitting U.S. President "el diablo" (the devil) from the U.N. General Assembly podium.
This man is a thief, a thug and a criminal Chavez is more than willing to accommodate exiled Colombian drug lords in order to ensure the continued fleecing of the Venezuelan people's wealth.
Obama's handshake is appalling to me. Anyone who respects the flag of the U.S. or the office of the President should be equally concerned. That includes every one of our patriots who have fought and risked or lost their lives protecting those beliefs.

Cuba Libre!!

Like it or not, the Obama Administration is looking to gradually lift the 47 year trade embargo with Cuba. Street Meat takes a look at the companies positioned to benefit from such a move.
Travel companies like Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) are clearly going to be big winners. But did you know that aggregates giant Vulcan (VMC) may be the biggest winner of all. Two years ago Vulcan (VMC) purchased Florida based materials company Florida Rock in a foresighted buyout that puts it strategically in control of the potential lucrative materials needs of a freer Cuba.