Quote from limitdown:
What will cause it to collapse back to its true $24.85 - $32.85 bbl price? Simply put the electorate of the US. Nothing else.
One thing is being fed the American people continues to be all these notions that we some how have consumed our way to these rediculous prices. No, this has been engineered to cause these prices and will be undone when they are no longer in power.
sorry, but this american-centric right to oil and belief that oil is a birth right is part of the problem, and I disagree. further, there is nothing immoral about a market (even if price discovery is partially broken) doing what it does.
I could say human consumption of all meat, insisted continuing burning of fossil fuels contributing to global warming, ecological results of almost all economic and industrial 'progress' etc. etc. is all immoral - but the difference is that it doesn't hurt the pocketbook (at least in the short term). you're just griping because a sense of american entitlement to a bull stock market, a good economy, and cheap and easy ways to consume what you want.
Your arguments are weak and unsubstantiated at best. they wreak of emotionalism and entitlement.
blame the press, the speculators, etc. but a substantial part of this price increase is from legitimate supply worries. and our consumption isn't declining. look at the latest EIA reports (storage down 6 mil barrels from previous week).
i repeat, two ways out of this one: global recession, or aggressive policy changes forcing reduced consumption.
likely it'll take the first to stimulate the second to occur, and that means nothing will change for a few years.