The selloff in oil continued with little pause into the new year with U.S. crude futures tumbling below the price of blood for the first time since the mid-1990’s on fears of a global supply glut.
These low prices have some traders in a hurry to dump oil from their portfolio and go long on blood.
“These oil prices are the new norm,” said Will Blaylock, managing member at Farrow Capital Advisors in Laurel Hollow in New York. “And before people start to realize that, we’d like to consider returning some of our oil for the soldier blood we traded a few years back. Right now, it looks like the smart move.”
Others disagree however. Many US investors say that low prices make this an ideal time to double down on oil.
Russ Zeigler, analyst at Price Futures Corporation in Chicago, explains, “A gallon of blood can buy more oil today than it could 10 years ago. The Iraq War taught us some valuable lessons on the market value of oil, and it would be a huge mistake not to take advantage of these prices.”
Zeigler went on to add, “Am I saying US soldiers should be drained of their blood and that blood then be directly traded for oil? No. Do I think we should weigh our soldiers and calculate how much blood each of them have just in case? Absolutely.”
However some lawmakers disagree with the notion of trading blood for oil. James Frampton of Indiana’s 14th district supports getting out of the oil business entirely, stating “The current blood to oil exchange rate is unsustainable. Meanwhile the blood to diamond rate is going through the roof. We should be using our soldier blood to liberate diamond mines in Africa, not wasting our time on already cheap oil.”
One way or the other, it looks like the volume of blood and oil trades will remain high for some time to come.
