MeekAndMild
New member
It gets even more complex if you look at the way other commodities work, i.e. futures options. He might theoretically write a "pistol put" which would be selling the right to sell 40,000 pounds of pistols at a specified time in the future at a given price. Or he might theoretically write a "pistol call" which would be selling the right to buy 40,000 pounds of pistols at a specified time in the future at a given price. In turn, Boss Tweed in Sunny New York City might be buying puts or calls depending on his estimation of future prices.
Going back to the source of the analogy Al Gore (or at least someone close to him) may well be buying present carbon credits and then selling future ones (or buying the right to sell them or the right to buy them). They are starting to amass money largely on Barnum's Principles of High Finance #1 and #2: there's a sucker born every minute and never give a sucker an even break.
My 2 cents worth only. I'm not a carbon speculator nor do I own any strip mines in Tennessee.
