Shane’s Drivel

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a theory out there that if the US Government cracked down on excessive oil speculation in commodities markets, that oil would fall fast enough to get us $2 gasoline within 30 days. Let’s see how that idea is progressing.

Exhibit A, TODAY from the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted 94-0 Tuesday to move ahead on legislation to curb speculation in oil markets. But any hope of bipartisanship to pass the bill is likely a mirage.

Unfortunately, that bill has a slim chance of passing as Democrats and Republicans would rather bicker, defeating each other’s proposals out of fear that one side but not the other might have proposed something that worked. Bastards. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, I’d favor re-electing every single one of them if they’d get on the ball and shut down excessive speculation. Conversely, I would and I will vote against every incumbent for treating this critical issue with such wreckless partisanship.

Exhibit B:

How about that. After oil took an unprecedented pace to record heights, it suddenly falls like a rock the same week that Congress stands a chance to drop the hammer on excess speculation. Talking heads in the news say that the markets have figured out that the world’s economies can’t support $150 oil and now oil is correcting in response to that. While I’d agree with that supportability aspect, I think the timing here is too much for coincidence.