All this talk of "lying in spirit", "producing false impressions", "untruthful in the most cowardly way", "murderers", and "crime" is a little melodramatic, wouldn't you admit? All I was doing was trying to get SG and MA to choose. I don't think they are terribly sanguine about voting for McCain, but I'm trying to help them make a decision. So I exaggerated my case a little. Bite me!
But I suspect it's really Peak Oil which is on your mind. I am less of an expert than you are, and I'm aware of what the oil majors have been saying, and I think that's very self-serving of them to blame the speculators. Point is, there haven't been any large oil finds lately. Mexico's Cantarell is dwindling fast. Who knows what's happening in Saudi Arabian fields, but I don't see them taking advantage of these record prices and pumping much more oil.
My original post ("Oil over $120") was concerned with the fact that the rest of the world pays as much, and in most developed countries, significantly higher gas prices than we do. Yet we produce all the hot air about it. I showed that most of the rise was due to the weak dollar, and also mentioned the premium for political instability (Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, etc.). Speculation no doubt plays a part, but look at the rise over the last 16 months--it's been continuous, with few retraces. That doesn't look like speculation, but something more fundamental.