Alan Greenspan Complete CNBS Interview 03.11.11

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. [1] - Alan Greenspan (1967)

Interview Part 1, Interview Part 2, Interview Part 3, Interview Part 4, Interview Part 5  

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Is $200 Barrel Oil Coming to the US (5 dollars at the Pump)?

Seeking Alpha- Cullen Roche

Nomura has a very good piece on the current situation in the Middle East and the risk of oil rising to $200. While Libya is a big player in the region, the ultimate scare would come from any disruption in Saudi output. As you can see they are by far the largest player in the region (click to enlarge):

 

One of the concerns today is that spare capacity is fairly high. That means OPEC is unlikely to add supply to the market despite the disruptions. This was confirmed by CNBC yesterday who says that OPEC has no intentions of raising supplies: