How appropriate. How ironic. Bloomberg quoting Hank Paulson on a plane heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia "If you look at the facts, they show that the price of oil is about supply and demand". Duh!? -- Thereby echoing the oiligopoly's dissembling mantra, which was hereby characterized in a recent post, namely "supply and demand is what you say when you want the other person to know that you think they are an idiot" (please see "Oil -- Congress Finally Takes Charge Yet Must do Much Much More" 05.29.08).
This from a man who is clearly aware of the collusionary workings of OPEC, a cartel whose actions in restraint of trade through limiting supply, would land them in American jails were they not protected by sovereign immunity. Further he must have certainly been aware of the intentions of a newly awakened CFTC whereby his colleague, Acting Chairman Walter Lukken, said in an interview just days ago that the CFTC "will leave no stone unturned" to make sure the oil market isn't being manipulated.
Given the clear facts (OPEC is not a figment of anyone's imagination) Paulson's statement gives underpinnings to perhaps the greatest swindle in history, the current price of crude oil on world markets. Certainly a heist from the world's pockets of this magnitude needs cover and validation by those in positions of authority lest we wake up to the fact of how badly we are being fleeced. And that is what Hank Paulson, our Secretary of the Treasury, brings to the table.
Now why would a man so obviously knowledgeable go out of his way to coddle members of the OPEC cabal and the oil industry generally? Consider the following: certainly Secretary Paulson is fully aware that these very oil states accounted for about half of the $3.3 trillion of the assets currently parked in the world's sovereign wealth funds.
And while visiting the region he has made it clear that the "United States continues to welcome investment from this part of the world." In a few months time Hank Paulson will no longer be Secretary of the Treasury. Perhaps this is the reason Paulson, an old Goldman Sachs hand, is so keen to whitewash the manipulations of OPEC, the Middle East's torrential money machine.