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It takes an Australian Senator to call Steve Forbes out on his $35/bbl call...

Posted by Prof. Goose on September 2, 2005 - 9:07pm

Damn, I love the freaking internet.  Kerry Nettle, a senator in Oz, has caught Steve Forbes in a real pickle.  (A wonderful catch by http://peakoil.com)

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today accused Steve Forbes, host of the CEO conference at the Opera House, of playing deceptive games with the Australian public over oil price claims.

Steve Forbes told the Prime Minister and media on Tuesday that oil prices will come back down to around $35 a barrel within a year, and that high prices are a speculation 'bubble'. Overnight his investor newsletter has advised the opposite.

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It takes an Australian Senator to call Steve Forbes out on his $35/bbl call...

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10 comments

NC on September 2, 2005 - 9:38pm Permalink | Comments top
Prof G.

Where do find this stuff!!!  I search the net but still find the best stuff at this site.

Facing reality on September 2, 2005 - 10:43pm Permalink | Comments top
has to be from someone who has never heard of peak oil or a billionaire from another world.
Halfin on September 3, 2005 - 12:01am Permalink | Comments top
I hope I'm not disabusing you of any heartfelt romantic notions, but...

Steve Forbes probably doesn't really write his own investment newsletter. Wrong as it seems, he probably has someone else write it in his name.

I'm sorry, I hope this doesn't come as too terrible a shock.

Just please don't ask me if Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real...

Donal on September 3, 2005 - 5:07am Permalink | Parent | Comments top
Apparently he doesn't read it, either.
mw on September 3, 2005 - 8:11am Permalink | Parent | Comments top
Some newsletter writers actually write their own material; I do.

I'm certain Forbes does not.

In this case, the "Professional Timing" newsletter appears to be edited by one Curtis Hesler, not Forbes. The piece quoted, to me, is marketing fluff designed to suck someone into subscribing; its not investment or trading advice.

Hesler Bio:
http://www.newsletters.forbes.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayMainPage&SiteID=e s_764

While Forbes is no doubt listed as editor in chief and is responsible for what his publishing concerns produce, he is however free to disagree with it.

http://www.newsletters.forbes.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&am p;SiteID=es_764&Locale=en_US&productID=10292900

RayJ on September 3, 2005 - 2:05pm Permalink | Parent | Comments top
MW,
You may be right but it strikes me as unusual that the newsletter would take such a diametrically opposing position to what Forbes normally espouses.  Do you think Forbes knows that his newsletter believes in PO?

"On the other hand, global production is very close to a peak, and there is no longer any near term "excess" production capacity left. Knowledgeable sources estimate that world production will never - that's NEVER - exceed 90 million barrels a day (MBD).  With one exception - which we discuss in our updated special report Oil - Slam Dunk Investing For Income And Capital Gains - Updated - alternative energy of any import is years in the future.  We are at the point where the rubber hits the road, and the only rationing mechanism for whomever gets the available supply will be higher prices."

mw on September 3, 2005 - 9:18pm Permalink | Parent | Comments top
Forbes, you can be sure, does not read the many and varied investment newsletters that are published via his service. Its "just" a business, one of many he has his fingers in. There are a number of newsletter consolidators out there -- authors sign up with a publisher such as Forbes (TheStreet.com has a bunch as well); the publisher takes a cut and provides marketing, billing, customer servce etc for that cut.

While I'd love to catch Forbes (or any public figure plugged into biz or govt on oil) saying one thing in public and doing another in private, unfortunately I don't think this is such a case.

Ender on September 3, 2005 - 3:43am Permalink | Comments top
Mind you as a member of the WA Greens I could not get them really to acknowlege Peak Oil.

Still I am glad that Kerrie picked him up on this.  Howard and his cronies probably lapped it up without a thought.

Skeptacles on September 3, 2005 - 8:00am Permalink | Comments top
I'm not so sure there's such a big discrepancy between Forbes' words and his newsletter. Forbes' personal stance is nuanced; Nettle's paraphrase of Forbes was definite in tone.

Nettle paraphrases Forbes as saying that "oil prices will come back down to around $35 a barrel within a year" whereas Forbes says "I would say it's more likely to go to $35 than to say $95" (radio interview transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1450439.htm).

The message always gets garbled.

step back on September 3, 2005 - 8:59am Permalink | Parent | Comments top
Forbes is full of flattus. I distinctly recall reading in his Forbes Magazine editorial about 8 month ago, when oil was at $45/bl; that he was sure it was going to slip back down to $35 and no way was it going to $55 and this was all a scheme by market hedgers to fool the people and there are tons of oil out there and the markets will provide just as surely as they always have. Too bad I threw that issue out. Did anyone keep his or hers?

It takes an Australian Senator to call Steve Forbes out on his $35/bbl call...

PDF version

10 comments