[Jack]

There has been a great deal of debate on the oil issue of late; as one would expect,with all of us being effected by high oil prices. And a lot more heat than light.
Frankly, none of the possible solutions are going to be quick, easy, or painless. And, unfortunately, the response of many of the players in the oil price problem have decided that it's easier to crank up the propaganda machine and make sure the other guy gets blamed.
The current party to point our fingers at seems to be the anonymous 'commodities brokers and speculators'. Commodities brokers and speculators have been trading in oil futures (and any other commodity) since the first barrel of oil came out of the ground. They were never a problem before, but now, all of a sudden, it's them.....
Commodities brokers and speculators are betting that oil will sell for high prices in the future. Have you asked yourself why? Could it be that demand from emerging countries like China and India will keep oil prices high? And the fact that even if we drill every bit of oil in the US, it won't produce enough oil to satisfy demand?
Saudi Arabia points the finger at the evil boogie men 'commodities brokers and speculators'. Does that surprise you? Do you really expect Saudi Arabia to come out and say 'we're screwing you, and we like it' ? If Saudi Arabia really thought it was a problem, all they have to do is publicly offer to sell oil to the US at 60$ a barrel, and the price of oil will drop overnight. But that's not going to happen.
Congress often gets blamed for oil prices - and a lot of other problems. Blaming Congress is easy, and often true. Oil prices didn't start climbing overnight-oil prices have been creeping up for a number of years. Congress hasn't done much about it until very recently, with efforts to get ethanol on the market (that's a whole other debate). Has Congress been pushing alternatives to foreign oil, like wind, solar energy, and nuclear power( yes, the word is nuclear, not nukular- look it up)? And what about all that coal we have in the US? Has Congress been pushing research into ways to use coal without destroying the environment?
And, the 'greenies' often get blamed. I remember in the 60's when 'the greenies' said that oil would some day be in short supply, and expensive. Everybody laughed.
The oil companies, of course, get blamed. They are in business to make money for their stockholders, so they will. If there is a shortage of refinery capacity keeping gasoline and diesel fuel prices high, that's ok with the oil companies. Don't expect oil companies to develop non oil sources of energy. Why should they?
And finally, the Administration gets blamed, and in return blames Congress. One thing to remember is that, when oil prices were rising sharply between 2000 and 2006, Congress was controlled by Republicans, as is the Administration. The Administration in those years could have gotten anything they wanted passed. Take a look at what they did or didn't do in those years.
The cold hard truth is, oil prices won't come down until demand for oil comes down. And as long as we use oil at the rate we are, demand will keep prices as they are today.
And, that, folks, is what no politician wants to tell you. Pointing fingers and blaming the other guy is a lot easier.