Aren’t you, RSmithOpt, repeating the Democrat talking points, blaming the speculators etc.? Your post sure sounds like Democrat talking points to me.
The fact is that speculators and oil companies are not manipulating oil prices. Oil prices are rising because supply has not kept up with demand since 2005. That’s simple economics. World Oil production has barely risen since 2005 while world oil demand has skyrocketed during that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil#Production
“World oil production growth trends were flat from 2005 to 2008. According to a January 2007 International Energy Agency report, global supply (which includes biofuels, non-crude sources of petroleum, and use of strategic oil reserves, in addition to crude production) averaged 85.24 million barrels per day (13.552×106 m3/d) in 2006, up 0.76 million barrels per day (121×103 m3/d) (0.9%), from 2005”
And even though demand has skyrocketed prices are only up about 15%. What you are seeing at the pump is a very weak dollar.