Fishy Increases

When the oil prices began to fall, many in the world were glad including Malaysians. The pressure was on the Government who had promised to review the petrol prices that stood then at RM2.70 per liter. Of course, I am sure that everyone of us are grateful for the respite of 15sen reduction and then the second reduction of 10sen.

Yet, there is much to be said about the response time. Am I the only one or did anyone observe how the price increase of fuel was decided so very quickly - less than a week and implemented in less than 24 hours? However, when the fuel prices began to slide, the Government announced that they needed 3 weeks to study and monitor the prices before they could consider a review of the current pump prices for fuel. Acceptable or not? You decide. Mind you, just an observation.
But what I want to focus on here is the fact that the fuel producers in the world have always maintained that they do not "manipulate" the prices of fuel. They attribute all to the forces of demand and supply.

I am no expert in economics but if truly the forces of supply and demand are in play, then I believe the natural response and outcome of such a play of forces, would be a gradual increase of fuel prices over a period of time.

Then, how is it that when the Malaysian Government was about to review the price of fuel for the second reduction, the price of fuel stood at about USD90-odd per barrel and within 24 hours shot past the USD100 the following day. I seriously would like the fuel producers to answer this question honestly. Forces of natural supply and demand or manipulation? You decide.

My opinion - something really smells fishy there!

For many Malaysians, how does this affect us? If the price of fuel had remained below the USD100 mark, perhaps, we would have seen another 5sen per liter or 10sen per liter reduction.
Would such a small difference made a dent in our lives. Certainly.

It would reduce our transportation costs, which would lead to cheaper costs of transportation for goods and foodstuffs. Cost of materials from fuel-dependent products would have been cheaper. The result - a lowering of the already soaring inflation index. By the way, any Malaysian would also realize that the inflation index that is reported by our government is actually lower than what the actual is. Compare the increases of groceries and you will see that for many goods, the price is almost doubled or has leaped by a hefty 70% increase.

Alas! We were denied that little breathing space and distance from the soaring cost of living and now must brace ourselves for a very real threat of an approaching global recession. What more now, the crashing financial markets and so forth.

Life is definitely not going to be easy for the next few years and while the fuel-producing countries get richer and richer, many developing countries like Malaysia and third world countries are just moving nearer to poverty lines. A typical case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer!

After all, is it not said that when the shrewd see an "door to the road to riches" and when the desperate clamor to survive, then the rest of us had better look out below. This is because human character in pursuit of such fulfillment are bound to include more and more manipulation in a variety of areas. And when manipulation comes in through the door, he brings along his other close partners - greed and corruption. Partners in crime, that's it.

That's all for now. Cheerio!

McFish