Dick Dastardly,
There is a graph that I would love to put up here if only it was possible.
There is a very close correlation between the oil price and recessions.
Every recession, except the dot com one, was preceded by a spike in oil prices.

When you look at the now notorious 2008 GFC, but not with a finance
orientated mind, you will find that the price started rising from
before 2005 when peak conventional oil production occurred.
It peaked at $147 in July 2008 and and the crash a couple of months later.
It was no coincidence, and had been predicted for some years.
It always happens that way.

Bazz, the price oil per barrel 10 days before George Bush Snr put troops in Kuwait, was $17.50 per barrel...there was a conversation between Saddam and a US diplomat, and the transcripts made public...Saddam asked, "What is your opinion of our border conflict with Kuwait?"

Diplomat: " We have no opinion."
Saddam asked that question three times through an interpreter, getting the same response, and then asked again himself, in English, to the same reply, "We have no opinion." Next...

Saddam: "I'd like to see the price of oil increase."

Dip: "Yes, we have oil producing states in America that would also like to ser an increase."

Ten days later, the US had an "opinion", and landed troops in Kuwait. The price oil doubled to $35 per barrel. Then, a few years later, the great white peanut gains office, GeeDubya Bush, 9/11 happens, troops move to Afghanistan en route to Iraq, and oil doubles again to $70 per barrel. It drifted up to around $90 per barrel, givr or take a buck or two, since then.

If you're aware of the petrodollar, and how all countries have to use USD to both buy or sell oil (which is how America is able to continuously raise its debt ceiling), Saddam was using Euros instead, which directly affected America's capacity to borrow. So, they killed Saddam, reinstituted the USD in Iraq, and raped whatever they could lay their hands on.

Bazz cont'd, (I pushed the wrong button)

The GFC was the direct result of the Subprime Loan Fiasco, due to banks, including merchant banks, started going bust from their outrageous exposure to those subprime loans, and insuring against those bad debts, causing insurance companies to fail as well...no-one had the money to cover the losses or the insurance payouts.

Watch the movie documentary entitled "Inside Job", it gives an excellent overview of it, interviews some of the key players (there are some great "uhms" and "ers" to hard questions). It's probably the most concise, well researched broad view that I've seen in that format. I'm sure you'd enjoy it. The scariest part about this docco, is it shows you what happened to those crooks...political appointments to the White House!!

Bazz, here's a link to the trailer, I'm on my mobile phone, so can't get the link to the entire film, but if you go to Youtube and search "film/Inside Job", from memory the first choice was the entire film, which had (I think) -avi after it...or something to that effect.

It was on TV a couple of weeks ago, and I only caught about half of it, so watched the entire film a few days later with a mate. I found it riveting. If I knew you personally, I'd watch it again with you!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FzrBurlJUNk

Cheers.

If TV, X-boxes & tablets are more fun than better lives, so be it. But if people want to use those tablets to influence the governments that do so much damage to their lives they can.

The masses need not agitate too much. They merely need to say what they want. There are far more poor people in the world or in OZ than rich ones. Given that politicians get elected by votes, not dollars, the 80% unrich can easily control democracy. Provided they follow Dick Dastardly's advice, forget about party loyalties and party leaders, which are the great destroyers of democracy, because they make us forget the local members whose jobs depend on our votes.

I have helped people do this in every Australian parliament with great success since launching Votergrams, then FairGO, Voterland and Residents Roundtables. I am about to launch Business Voterlobby Australia to assist small to medium business compete with the monsters.

We can control our destiny, but we do have to make a modicum of effort. Most people don't seem to understand how much of their lives is controlled by politicians or how easy it is to influence them.

But we will not do it by talking about it, so join the Residents Roundtables or Business Voterlobby and let's get government working for us.

Huge multi-national corporations have developed
much morw quickly than have the means of
applying social control over them. Dedicated
to the pursuit of profit and subject to the
authority of no one nation,
run by a tiny elite of managers and directors
who have a largely fictional responsibility to their
far-flung shareholders, they represent a disturbing
and growing concentration of global power and
influence. Markets don't shift on their own -
as the film "Inside Job," illustrated so well.
Visible hands write laws and make deals and of course
warped values and greed seems to drive intelligent men
towards folly. People are easily corrputed.
What can an average person do - and how much does the
average person even care or know about what goes on?

Watching the film I felt very dispirited and angry.
It totally outraged me. I wonder how many of you have
even seen it? This is a brilliant discussion raised by
DD - and as Saltpetre rightly stated - its is indeed
a complex topic and bears further thinking.

Of course Voterland is also right in suggesting that once
people no longer take their world for granted, but instead
understand the social authorship of their lives and
futures, they can become an irrestible force in history.
Although in this case I'm not quite sure what can be done.
I'd be interested to hear what suggestion others have.
Fascinating topic though.