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Originally Posted by mangajunky

Our biggest problem right now is that the oil companies who set the prices are allowed to speculate on oil futures. So if they raise the price of oil, they make money on speculation. The law that allows them to do this was written by Enron Lobbyists and Republican senator Phil Gramm and signed into law by Bill Clinton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_loophole

yeah but futures dont necessarily have to go up or have negative consequences.

my old apartment building heated with oil, and they had a kickass long-term deal on oil prices with the supplier-- even as prices climbed, they maintained a low cost. the company made up for this, he claimed, by trading on oil futures.

now what do you think will happen to oil futures if tomorrow we discover a new cheap technology for solar prices & develop an infrastructure for natural gas in cars?

on a related note, a huge sugar producer in florida is going out of business & selling its land back to the state to help restore the everglades. i don't know if you see the connection, but that's a step closer to having cheap ethanol imports-- which yes, i know, aren't sufficient-- but anything helps.