I don't purport to be an economics “expert.”
But I do listen to enough economic “experts” to know that a great many of them said what I repeated here about speculators driving up the price of crude oil beyond its real value. I'm sure that Lou Dobbs, who HAS a degree in economics knows what he is talking about, and he one of very many “experts” who have made the same statement. Every time some lunatic in the Middle East sneezes, they drive prices up even more. Look at what happened just recently with escalating tensions with the Ayatollahs.
I realize this is just ONE approach to a problem which requires a multifaceted solution. Permitting drilling on ANWAR, off shore and in the western shale oil deposits is another, as well as expanding refinery capacity here in the US, using more nuclear power plants, and exploiting our vast coal reserves. So is providing more money for research into energy efficient vehicles and other alternative energy sources.
However, this President and this Congress have done absolutely NOTHING to address a dangerous problem which growing exponentially worse by the day and hour. And they have been merely the latest in a succession of parasitic, nonproductive Congressional and Executive leaches sitting in Washington, D.C.
Paul Krugman has an economics degree but he's a socialist. Lou Dobbs has an economics degree but talks for a living. What I do is I derive the cause and effect of markets. I know it better than Lou Dobbs. And again, I'm sorry for being rude, but I feel like a modern doctor who got in a time machine and went back to the 16th century. I know what causes illnesses and it's not a matter of opinion for me... but I keep meeting people who are telling me that they're sure to it's the humors, or bad air, or that it can be fixed with leeches. They all talked to "experts" too, but none of them knew what they were talking about because they didn't understand medicine.
I'm in the same boat. I know what's causing the problem. It's not a matter of opinion... there is evidence for what I'm claiming backed up by 18 years of experience, and the sum total of what an entire industry knows about markets. In the meantime there is no evidence for blaming speculators, and still everyone keeps telling me that they know better than me and keep recommending leeches.
I'm sure you're an expert in something that I know nothing about. And if we were having a discussion about it, I'd defer to your knowledge and experience. This is what I do, and if you want to be "right" then you should do the same.
Unfortunately, everyone seems to think they know about markets even when they don't. Well I do. And this is congresses fault, not the fault of speculation. If congress would just do something rational then those speculators would push the price of oil into the basement. They add to volatility, not to price.