Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A Time for Reflection

Remember all the learned lectures oil experts gave us that $75 per barrel crude oil was due to natural laws of supply and demand over which we had no control-except to stop driving SUV’s. A BusinessWeek analysis based upon actual data reaches a quite different conclusion. Surprise! A large portion of the increase was due to overheated speculation by hedge funds. Now that the speculators are off for other waters to muddy, we have drastic reductions in the price of gasoline. You can read the analysis here

Speculation certainly has both a dark and bright side but this last little foray into speculation on transportation fuels was extremely costly to the country. Not only did it put a hardship on millions of working Americans and force our two automakers into major layoffs, it also pumped billions of dollars to our enemies.

The one bright spot would be if we do not forget. Please America, whichever political party; do not ever again turn our energy policy over to the oil companies. Please realize that the solution lies in the American spirit that has brought, or is bringing diverse renewable energy sources to practicality. If incentives are required to make this happen -provide them.

We really cannot afford another repeat of the last few years.