Whoops, do over! I have contended for awhile that the FED knows and encourages commodity speculation especially for oil. Price spikes act as a sponge for excess liquidity, holding down inflation and abating the need for interest rate increases, reserve requirement increases or on a fiscal route, tax increases to sop up excess liquidity. Of course it outs an artificial squeeze on all of us but it keeps the FED and the general government out of the picture when the blame game starts. In fact I tend to believe aobama's current obsession with taxes on the wealthy are meant eaxctly for this reason. Everyone know about income disparity. If left to its own devices that growth in income at the top would begin to seep through the economy.