Bay Area
Oil Contracts Collapse Putting Pressure On Stocks
The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil product hit a historic level on Monday as it posted its worse loss on record. According to MarketWatch, “the May contracts made history by settling in negative territory for the first time ever.”
The platform was so broken that sellers were paying buyers to take the contracts off of their hands. So, Monday, April 20, 2020, will go down in history as the day that the price of oil broke down.
The futures industry is a very risky but popular business. The fact that its movements can impact the direction of the stock market, makes it a key indicator of economic activity at home and abroad. In a recent report, Pvmreports.com suggested that the activity in the oil futures proved that the market was broken.
I read in an essay where it said, “Even though perceptions and expectations are powerful ingredients in the formation of oil prices, (Monday’s) price crash must have taken place in some kind of parallel universe.”
For those who are not familiar with how oil futures work, “The Motley Fool,” an on-line stock advisory group, defines the product as, “contracts in which buyers and sellers of oil coordinate and agree to deliver specific amounts of physical crude oil on a given date in the future. “
The benchmark futures contract for crude oil in the U.S. involves West Texas Intermediate, which produces a particular grade of oil that has fairly low density and sulfur content that makes it relatively easy to refine. It has historically traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and therefore many traders refer to the contracts as NYMEX WTI crude oil futures.
Trading is also common globally for what are called Brent crude oil futures, which involve a different grade of oil found in the North Sea off the European continent.
While some speculate that Russia and Saudi Arabia conspired to artificially bring down oil prices in order to disrupt the U.S. stronghold on oil exports, it is clear that the pandemic has had an effect: When people stay home, oil use simply goes down.
So, for Wall Street traders, “Bizarro World” was in full effect on Monday. Even if that date isn’t marked in the future as a day of financial infamy, it will certainly be the topic of discussion in a lot of business schools.
One of my colleagues, Harbo Jensen, who is an MIT graduate and retired oil company executive, described the event in simple terms to help lay-people like myself understand what happened.
“You are now seeing the financial paper traders struggling to get out of contract under which they would need to take actual delivery of oil in May at Cushing, Okla.,” Jensen said.
“Clearly, these guys want to find a buyer for their paper contract because they really don’t want that real ‘wet’ barrel of oil….these paper barrel traders would not know what to do with a barrel of real oil if they had to pick it up, so they’re willing to pay someone, say $15-$20 to take it off their hands. Hence, the negative price.
“If there is anyone who thinks that this pandemic in which we live is not real, they should just look at the standstill that we are seeing in the oil markets. It seems surreal that global economies have been shut down by this virus, and if you do not believe it, let’s see how low the price reveals itself at the pump. We may be able to keep our tanks full, but we will be all dressed up with nowhere to go.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 22 – 28, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May May 22 – 28, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Alameda County
District Attorney Pamela Price Will Face Recall Election on November General Election Ballot
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors scheduled the recall election against Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price for November 5, coinciding with the 2024 General Election. The decision comes after weeks of controversy and drawn-out discussions amongst county officials, recall proponents, and opponents, and legal advisors.
By Magaly Muñoz
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors scheduled the recall election against Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price for November 5, coinciding with the 2024 General Election.
The decision comes after weeks of controversy and drawn-out discussions amongst county officials, recall proponents, and opponents, and legal advisors.
Recall proponents submitted 123,374 signatures before the March 5 deadline, which resulted in 74,757 valid signatures counted by the Registrar of Voters (ROV).
The recall election will cost Alameda County $4 million and will require them to hire hundreds of new election workers to manage the demand of keeping up with the federal, state and local elections and measures.
Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE), one of the two recall campaigns against Price, held a press conference minutes before the Board’s special meeting asking for the Supervisors to schedule the election in August instead of consolidating with the November election.
Supporters of the recall have said they were not concerned with the $20 million price tag the special election would’ve cost the county if they had put it on the ballot in the summer. Many have stated that the lives of their loved ones are worth more than that number.
“What is the cost of a life?” recall supporters have asked time and time again.
Opponents of the recall election have been vehemently against a special date to vote, stating it would cost taxpayers too much money that could be reinvested into social programs to help struggling residents.
A special election could’ve cost the county’s budget to exceed its current deficit of $68 million, which was a driving factor in the three supervisors who voted for a consolidated election.
“Bottom line is, I can’t in good conscience support a special election that is going to cost the county $20 million,” Board President Nate Miley said.
Many speakers asked Miley and Keith Carson to recuse themselves from the vote, claiming that they have had improper involvement with either the recall proponents or Price herself.
Both supervisors addressed the concerns stating that regardless of who they associate themselves with or what their political beliefs are, they have to do their jobs, no matter the outcome.
Carson noted that although he’s neither supporting nor opposing Price as district attorney, he believes that whoever is elected next to take that position should have a reasonable amount of time to adjust to the job before recalls are considered.
Reports of recall attempts started as soon as April 2023 when Price had only been in office three months.
Price and her campaign team Protect the Win have been adamant that the voters who elected her to office will not fall for the “undemocratic” practices from the recall campaign and they are prepared to put all efforts forward to guarantee she stays in office.
Bay Area
Radical Proposal to Limit the Power of Oakland’s Police Commission
Since February 2023, several stakeholders, including the Coalition for Police Accountability, began to work on amending the Enabling Ordinance of Section 604, Article VI of the Oakland City Charter. The Enabling Ordinance was approved by 83.19% of Oakland voters and established the civilian membered Police Commission (the Commission), the Community Police Review Agency (CPRA) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The recent process to amend was focused on addressing some of the inefficiencies and disruptions that have occurred with the Police Commission and to establish guard rails and procedures to mitigate such issues in the future.
By Coalition for Police Accountability
Since February 2023, several stakeholders, including the Coalition for Police Accountability, began to work on amending the Enabling Ordinance of Section 604, Article VI of the Oakland City Charter. The Enabling Ordinance was approved by 83.19% of Oakland voters and established the civilian membered Police Commission (the Commission), the Community Police Review Agency (CPRA) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The recent process to amend was focused on addressing some of the inefficiencies and disruptions that have occurred with the Police Commission and to establish guard rails and procedures to mitigate such issues in the future. Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Kevin Jenkins are the authors of this legislation which is still in process.
A counter proposal was presented by Councilmember Jenkins to drastically amend Article VI, Section 604 of the City Charter. The proposal would remove the selection process of the police chief from the Commission and give that power solely to the mayor. Currently, the Commission selects the candidates from which the mayor chooses the chief and presents them to the mayor who selects the final candidate. The proposal also moves the OIG to the Auditor’s Office. These proposals would rob the Commission and the OIG of independence from City Hall which 83.19% of Oakland voters sought in voting for Measure LL in 2016 and Measure S1 in 2018.
Our position is that the issues that have been raised about the hiring of the Chief, the appointment authority of Commissioners, and the scope of CPRA can all be incorporated into the ongoing collaboration of all the stakeholders working on the Enabling Ordinance. Those stakeholders are the two authors, the Coalition of Police Accountability, the Police Commission and the community members who have participated in this extensive work which has yet to be completed and approved by the City Council. The Charter is very clear that the Commission hires the IG and that the IG is supervised by the Commission. The ordinance cannot override that provision of the Charter.
Amending the Charter is not the vehicle that should be used to make amendments. The proposed Enabling Ordinance should be given a chance to effect positive change before making radical and undemocratic revisions.
For further information, please contact the Coalition for Police Accountability by reaching out to Mariano Contreras at puralata1@gmail.com.
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