Is it my imagination or has the price of oil gone up even faster recently than it did in early 2008?
According to Bespoke Investment Group, crude oil has gone up faster in the past few months than it did at any time between 2001 and 2008.
It has now risen by more than 100 per cent in less than three months, moving from below $34 (U.S.) a barrel on Feb. 12 to reach $70 yesterdaytues.
In a similar length of time, from December, 2001, to April, 2002, the price of oil went up by about 55 per cent.
That was the fastest gain – until now – since the start of the decade, according to Bespoke.
How has the price of gasoline moved during that same period?
According to Calgary gasoline consultancy MJ Ervin & Associates, the average price of gas across the country is just under $1.02 a litre. That is about 17 per cent higher than in mid-February, when the cross-country average was about 87 cents.
Over the past year, the lowest price was in the last week of 2008, when the average was about 72 cents.
Don’t forget that a year ago we were paying more than $1.30 a litre in most markets across the country.
With the recession squeezing my finances, I’m considering selling off some gold coins and jewellery I own. How much will I get for it?
It all depends on the price of gold, the content of the item and its weight. An item that is 24-karat gold is 100-per-cent gold, while something that is 18 karat contains about 75-per-cent gold. Ten karat gold is only 41.7 per cent pure.
What happened to gold as the basis of our currency ?
The gold standard was a monetary system based on the idea that every bank note could be exchanged for shiny bars of gold. A country tied to the gold standard had to have enough of the precious metal to back the currency completely. Besides the challenges of finding gold and storing it safely once acquired, the gold standard limited a nation's money supply to the amount of gold on hand even as the economy expanded, which made it difficult for governments to influence their economies.
Canada first untethered its dollar from the gold standard at the onset of the First World War, as worried investors rushed to get their capital out of banks. This threatened the viability of the financial sector, because if the banks couldn't meet their clients' demand for gold they were required to close. Canada went back to the gold standard in 1926. It was abandoned for the last time in 1929, in favour of a currency backed by a government promise rather than an underlying commodity. The United States held on to the gold standard until 1971. With the U.S. no longer setting the value, other nations followed suit and the system is no longer in use.
Why have Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries allowed crude oil to fall from more than $140 a barrel to less than $80 ?
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has control over about one-third of world oil production, so it can have an impact on pricing if it adjusts output. In early September, as prices fell, the cartel said it would cut production by about 520,000 barrels a day, and OPEC is set to meet Friday to talk about possible further action.
Still, as University of Alberta business professor Joseph Doucet points out, OPEC has no direct control over prices, but can merely control the quantity of their production which has an indirect influence on prices. Other factors - such as worldwide demand, or the level of crude and gasoline supplies in the United States - can have greater impact.
