the Exxon-Shell Endgame 
Politicians this week have come up with a brilliant plan. Oh, let's blame the recent oil price hike on speculators, why don't we? This way, we can continue not doing anything about energy prices and oil's scarcity and still keep our jobs. Let's just deflect attention from us and our inaction and blame it all on those commodity traders.Okay, of course, anyone who manipulates oil prices, inflating them artificially and causing us to pay $4 a gallon at the pump as a result while making a nice juicy profit on our backs, should pay. No doubt. But here's a thought: what if these speculators are doing us a service?
I'll use a line from Syriana: "It's running out." We all know it. At some point there will be no more oil, or it will become so scarce that $4 a gallon will sound like a joke, like my grandma telling me about those five-cent movie tickets (I still think she was pulling my leg!). And barring any alternative energy found to heat our homes, fuel our cars and power our factories, it is not difficult to envision doomsday scenarios.
So perhaps, instead of reaching that crucial stage and having to start scrambling for solutions then, perhaps the recent oil price hikes have done us more good than harm. It put the problem of oil and energy in the forefront; it made the problem too big to be ignored, brushed aside. Indeed, there has never been this much news and these many resources diverted to alternative energy as there has been in the past year (at least it feels that way).
The high price of oil has repercussions throughout the economy; it trickles down to the smallest of items and we've only been experiencing the beginning. The effect on prices is lagging. Still, only Wednesday Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) announced a price increase of up to 20% to offset these higher costs. Dow's CEO blamed Washington for not listening to industrialists when they demanded action for years.
So instead of constructive action to address the matter, once again politicians prove the only thing they care about is their cushiony seats. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. The Wall Street Journal writes, "Lawmakers in Congress have been pressing regulators to crack down on manipulation, as politicians seek to demonstrate ahead of the fall elections that they are responding to soaring gasoline prices." Translation: Don't blame us, blame the hedge funds.
As far as I'm concerned, it seems to me we are seeing the free market in action. Speculators predict higher demand with supply problems in the future, pushing prices higher. With higher energy prices, more attention and resources are devoted to other forms of energy and finding alternative sources of energy. Demand is also being curbed to balance the higher cost. Free market at its best! The government? It should wake up and face reality.
