[MAD-AS-HELL]

Sure I do. From early 90's to ~1998, oil hovered between $20-30 a barrel. Was the economy in serious trouble then?

Remember, a lot of this is FUTURES derived, which means the price of a barrel is artifically inflated.

Do I think it will get to 25/30 bucks? No. But I do hope it drops to the $50 range.

I also hope we start to find more oil reserves. And I think it would be neat if we soon realize that oil is a naturally occuring product that the earth makes itself.

[AFPhys]

The WORLD economy was in quite poor shape throughout the '90s, especially that of Japan and rest of Asia, though Europe was on tenterhooks, too. About the only economic engine that was in good shape was the US. Now that the rest of the world's economy is picking up, demand for oil is up world-wide... thus the prices are up world-wide.

Though the US economy is the most important in the world, it is not the ONLY economy in the world, and the price of oil has to do with the WORLD's demand of oil, not solely the demand of the US.

[HamiltonJay]

Based on historic supplies and reserves, Oil is a 30-40ish commodity... right now its got a 30-40 a bbl greed premium right now.... Future speculative scum.