The surge, coming just as many analysts thought oil prices were set to fall, sent stocks plunging amid fears that the U.S. economy could be in for a combined bout of inflation and slow growth. The skyrocketing price of oil, now up more than 44% so far this year, is battering the airline and auto industries and causing consumers to cut back on driving and nonessential spending. Full Story »
Posted by Beth Wellington
Washington has been whistling past the graveyard lately on the price of oil, trying to blame "speculators" for these enormous price jumps. Coverage like this shows the causes are much wider and deeper. Speculators speculate on conditions created either by events or policies, they do not create those events and policies. Peak oil and regional instability in oil producing regions are the core causes, and neither of those two factors are easily or quickly addressable. Neither are speculators, especially when handed a sure thing like current conditions.
