A decent-sized chunk of many family budgets is gasoline. So when prices hit $3 a gallon as they did in Eau Claire Thursday, other discretionary spending has to be watched more closely.
Usually, gas price jumps result in a war of words over whether blame should fall on the unbridled greed of “big oil” or the tree-hugging environmentalists who won’t let the oil companies boost supply by drilling in the Arctic or building more refineries.
Neither is the problem. As U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in an interview this week that investors' "excessive speculation" into oil prices is in part to blame.
Levin , who chairs the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations, found that when oil was $70 a barrel, about $20 of that, or nearly a third, was caused by excessive speculation.
Levin said Congress is working on legislation to crack down on the sleazeballs behind all this, but good luck with that. The people who trade oil futures do so completely in secret. But whoever they are, be assured they are rich and have good political connections. They have no problem squeezing middle class families, businesses and anyone else so long as they can make a quick fortune.
It’s frustrating that government supposedly “by, of and for the people” is so powerless over something so important. A relatively few people getting filthy rich at the expense of the masses by playing with numbers is sickening.
This is the way to go..!!!!!!!!!
keep up the good work in south africa, the more people working towards these alt fuels the sooner we will be removing the urge that the oil-barons have to make war for fossil-fuel reserves. They have "silenced" many discoveries
& alternatives but the internet has messed up there strangle-hold they have had on us the more we share technology and knowledge the better for us.
My hydrogen-fuel-cell has upped my milage from 5km/litre to 15.3km/l and i am still busy trying to use only hho
High Petrol and Diesel prices killing you!!!! "Then read this" - HHO Generators Africa
