zaitzeff

If . . . goes bankrupt, will that put a dent in the market?

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!� I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!�

Last Sunday I was listening to air america and there was a guest on who writes for the website truthtout.org. Being irritated at Bush, I visited and read some of the articles. One of the articles said that the recent rise in crude oil prices is not just a fluke but the result of conditions that will create a serious worldwide crisis. Apparently the world is consuming 6 barrels of oil for every one we discover. And, it appears we are at or near peak oil production worldwide. Those who wish, visit
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

for discussion of this, or search the Net for the words oil peak
or Hubbert peak.

In addition to the oil crisis we are about to face, is there something not so wonderful on Wall Street?

this website
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=GM

says that General Motors has 300 billion in debt and a market capitalization of 16 billion. (Market capitalization means the value of all the stock.) It has an "enterprise value" of 280 billion, which is 20 billion short of its 300 billion in debt. The price of GM stock has fallen from a high last year of about $50/share to near its low of 28 or 29/share. A few weeks ago, GE announced that it would be suspending its 2 billion credit line to GM. The fed is worried about inflation and says that they will be raising interest rates.

Does anyone who knows more than I do know if GM is headed for bankruptcy?

Toto

I don't think that Biblical scholars can help you on this. I'll shoot this to PD, where I suspect there may be a thread or two already.

Tom Sawyer

Wait a sec, are you suggesting that the Bible didn't predict the financial troubles that GM would face 2000 years after it was written? That's kind of a stretch considering how on the mark all its other prophecies have been.

Huon

You probably never heard anything about bituminous schists. There are plenty in the USA, and in 1970, they were already in the hands of the majors of oil business (Esso, now Exxon, and Mobil). Extraction costs are much more important than they are presently, with ordinary oil wells. But resources are huge.

There is also coal for at least 3 centuries.

Huon, retired refinery engineer.

Alter

Plus, the tech to convert trash into oil exists and is profitable now, even though there are startup costs:

http://www.changingworldtech.com

If oil all of a sudden "ran out", and we had only like 3 years warning, we could ramp this up and be turning food waste and sewage into oil across the country.