A Weak Dollar is Good for the Koch Brothers

[McCamy Taylor]

It is simple really. Think about how the Kochs make money. First, they are oil speculators. Obama threw a monkey wrench into this part of their business when he opened the strategic oil reserves, driving down prices. If the dollar weakens against foreign currency, the price of oil will rise, because everyone in the investment world knows that when the dollar is weak, oil is strong.

A weak dollar means strong commodities and strong commodities means high oil prices.

http://blogs.forbes.com/kenrapoza/2011/06/03/is-a-weak-dollar-good-for-russia/

The dollar has traditionally influenced the price of oil and other commodities, including gold and base metals, which are mostly priced in the currency and usually move to compensate for changes in the its value.

So the steep fall in the dollar to record lows against the euro, for example, has helped drive oil to a record of $83.90 a barrel, reached on September 20.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/09/26/us-energy-oil-dollar-idUSL2576484820070926

Oil futures were trading higher on the back of a weaker dollar.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11159880/1/oil-prices-rise-on-weak-dollar.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed

Since investors are a superstitious lot, if every one of them knows that a weak dollar means high oil prices, they will begin buying the stuff up like crazy----which is a good thing if you are a Koch Brother who bought a bunch of crude low, stashed it away in tankers do drive down supplies and then made a bet that the price would rise at a certain time. How fortunate that the Kochs now control the Republican House---the same one that just caused U.S. bond ratings to plummet, because it refuses to raise taxes.

Have you seen, anywhere, in any media, or even heard reported or repeated on NPR, the following sentence? “We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.”

It’s right there on Page 4 of the official Standard & Poors “Research Update” – the actual report on what they did and why – published on August 5th as the explanation for why they believe Congress – and even the Gang of Twelve – will be unable to actually deal with the US debt crisis.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2011/08/mainstream-media-ignores-sp-attack-republicans

If you thought that Tea Party’s intractable stance on taxes was fueled entirely by rich America’s desire to keep more of its own money, you were wrong. A tanking U.S. economy is gold to a lot of wealthy people, some in this country, some in other countries. And keep in mind that thanks to the SCOTUS’s infamous decision in Citizens United vs. FEC, foreign businessmen can now funnel as much money as they want into U.S. elections.

The Koch’s oil speculation business (here is a link http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/04/13/153206/koch-industries-price-gouging/)

is poised to make a killing off the weak dollar. And that’s not all. The Koch Brothers also own Georgia Pacific and Dixie Cup. The paper producers big competitor is China. China has done everything possible to keep the dollar strong against the yuan, so that U.S. consumers will keep buying “Made in China,” including Chinese paper products. Good for China, bad for the Koch Brothers.

Meanwhile a large portion of U.S. imports in paper and paperboard, as well as pulp and waste paper imports has come from China. As graphs 3 and 4 show, the share of U.S. imports from China has increased significantly in comparison to imports overall.

http://pulpwars.com/empires_of_collusion/s/4

How do you get Americans to buy more “Made in the U.S.A” toilet paper? You make the Chinese product costlier.

U.S. and European manufacturers would benefit from cheaper exports in China, in addition to decreasing America’s trade deficit with China.

http://www.investmentu.com/2009/November/the-weak-dollar-threatens-china.html

Before you say “No businessman would be mean enough to plunge the country deeper into recession in order to create a quick profit” recall what Enron did to California. And remember that Koch Industries has been called “organized crime” by one of the other Koch brothers.

At some point in 1987, Thurmon Parton’s royalty checks for the three oil wells he inherited from his mother suddenly dropped from $3,000 a month to a little over $1,000. He and his sister, Arnita Gonzalez, members of the Caddo tribe, lived near Gracemont, Oklahoma, a town of a few hundred people on a small grid on the prairie.

Those modest royalties were the only source of income each of them had.

. . . What happened to Mr. Parton, Ms. Gonzales and Ms. Limpy had nothing to do with the wells or how they were producing. Their oil was being stolen. And all of the evidence pointed to the same culprit: Koch Oil, a division of Koch Industries.

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/523/

[BeHereNow]

1. EXCELLENT POST! K&R!!!!

Thanks Camy for laying it out so well!
BHN:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :hi: :scared:

[HereSince1628]

2. Their father established the fortune buying during the depression

using money he'd made building oil refineries for Stalin.

I rather expect that today is looking good for the family's orientation to business.

[jpak]

3. ummm - oil dropped more than $5 a barrel today to $80 a barrel

FYI

[McCamy Taylor]

5. I know. That's because they think U.S. demand will go down if we go into a total depression

and close all the factories. But that won't happen. Japan and China won't let it. We will hobble along in a recession that will allow most Americans just enough money to put (cheap) food on the table and fill up the tanks of their clunkers so they can apply for jobs and/or go down to the Food Stamp office. The Cato Institute has made sure that this nation has no mass transit system that might relieve ordinary citizens of their dependence upon oil. And so food (the Koch Brothers raise beef, btw, that they graze on public lands) and gas will continue to be in high demand.

[jpak]

9. There are no data that point to a "depression" and only a 1:3 chance of a double dip

where do people get this stuff?

[pmdsyr32]

4. Fuck the

Koch brothers they are trying to destroy the middle class let's get rid of them by exposing how the manipulate oil prices as speculators. Costing us middle class people way more than we can afford

[C_U_L8R]

6. Dixie Cup

figures.

[Cool Logic]

7. Incredible...such a complex conspiracy, yet it has all been kept a secret...until now.

Actually, a weaker $ is good for any corporation that is seeking to expand their export market.

BTW, oil prices had been dropping for four months when the strategic oil reserves were released. ...at least he made you feel good.

[readmoreoften]

8. Everything except two-sided class war is good for the Koch Brothers.

[a2liberal]

10. Umm...

Of course the price goes up in dollars when the dollar is weaker. I don't see how that benefits them because they're now getting more of something that's worth less. (Don't get me wrong, I hate what the Koch brothers do, but I think there are plenty of other legitimate gripes to be had...)

Am I missing something?

[midnight]

11. K&R Get rid of these ALEC roaches..