Should we deal with the Hedge Fund speculators or threaten OPEC?

Dealing with the speculators would involve confronting aspects of unregulated Capitalism here and now. It would force Governments to confront the western oil majors and financial market makers and make them change their ways. Recognising that betting billions is not acceptable where the nations security and way of life are threatened. It might happen but It would mean breaking the mould in American Politics but is highly unlikely. The oil majors spend a lot of money grooming pliant politicians for a free hand in the markets. Cracking down on the speculators won't happen it means addressing the structural faults within American and western Capitalism.

A much better short term solution is to bully OPEC into pumping more oil and avoiding the fact that the US economic model should be reformed altogether.

The high price of hydrocarbons has one silver lining, it brings to the market alternative sources of energy. The oil majors and coal producers will try to block, delay, divert the onset of these new sources to prevent their own companies becoming marginalised, reducing their power and holy of holy profits

Hydrogen is the future, you can even make the stuff at home. Imagine owning your own Hydrogen refinary at home or in every workplace for your own use under the individuals complete control. This is a big headache for governments because it would be difficult to tax and there would be no profits for Big Oil the governments paymasters. The whole framework for world domination through the control of resources would break down.

There are plenty of alternatives out there but wont be pushed they will be suppressed while there is more oil, coal and gas in the ground. But thats reckoning without the consumer high oil prices are tipping the balance in favour of alternatives and suppressing them is getting harder with each additional cent on the price of a gallon.

Bullying OPEC seems to be the best solution for W, Congress, and the Senate. It means they can leave the mess to someone else and shift the blame onto anti-American foreigners at the same time. A win-win for W, the oil majors and hedge fund speculators. Obama and the Democrats will carry the can when the bubble bursts

Yesterday, that FEMA camp down outside town was only a tree farm. Occasionally there had been some trucks with workers going in and out. People tried to get the workers to chat about it, and all they got was a disinterested stare. They were all illegals anyway. Work was work and the economy is in a recession. Tonight as you sit at home with your family watching American Idol, the program is interrupted by a new brief from CNN’s Washington desk. A female Army captain uniform is reading a report about some kind of nuclear device that has detonated within the City of Houston. No one has yet claimed responsibility. 12 hours later, with every update, CNN shows the faces of a dozen dark haired men with Middle Eastern sounding names. The FBI had raided their apartments and found large amounts of documents and other evidence, - video tapes, parts, tools, and rolls of lead foil. The scene shifts to a news crew and team FBI investigators at one of the apartments mentioned. He holds up a driver’s license – Ahmed Tehrani. Other documents a reporter holds up to the camera reveal that Ahmed is a graduate physics student at the University of Texas, an Iranian immigrant. CNN cuts away now to a hurriedly arranged press conference at an air force base, somewhere in North Dakota. He announces that martial law had been put into effect one hour after the nuclear detonation in Houston. He confirms everyone’s worse fears. For all 50 states and US protectorates, all civilian air travel and railroad travel have been shut down. All police, fire service s, public and private telecommunications facilities have been feudalized under Homeland Security. Active duty, national guard units and Blackwater security forces are in control of roads, bridges, food warehouses. The President hardly paused when he continues to mention that the November elections will be cancelled due to the present state of emergency. Because, perhaps, you’re a different kind of bear, you’ve been vocal about the arbitrary dissolution of Congress and the mass arrests and detentions, under cover of numerous executive orders issued over the course of the previous eight years. You smelled a rat. You spoke up. Flash forward a month: You are in line at the local ‘Freedom Camp”, being pushed along, away from your FEMA trailer. The Blackwater guards are harassing some of the more stubborn ones. You see many with bloody noses and bruises, in a line that stretches for three blocks. “You all stink. We’re getting all you maggots over to the showers so you can get decontaminated. It’s for your own for your own healthy and safety.” “I’m hungry, when can we eat?” “Not until you get decontaminated. Now shut up.” You realize that the place you are being walked towards is an old meatpacking plant, but there are no animal in stockyards anywhere nearby to butcher. First, they come along and everyone is shaven down. Those doing the menial work are illegals, They walk up to each person in line, taking their valuables away and putting them into crates. A woman follows behind, says she’s from the Red Cross, and asks for anyway interested in donating blood. They’ll be able get their lunch without having to wait for the decontamination. Many agree and are walked away from the line. You are about to ask the woman why it would be safe to give blood if you hadn’t yet been decontaminated, but suddenly she moves along and someone else is now asking each person in line for their name and social security number. Two old men in the line begin They mumble, unable to remember their numbers. They’re ignored as the line suddenly begins to move again. The line continue to surge every twenty minutes or so, then halts. You smell smoke, an acrid, awful thick greasy smoke. Just beyond the shower building you, see a plume of black smoke slowly. You hear whispers in the line know. You can’t see, but you can hear someone scream, as he’s being clubbed down by three Blackwater men. The screaming stops. You look around again and shake your head. How could this have happened? you say to yourself. You feel a rising pitch of vomit climb up into your throat, and then all you can do is double over and retch. You are not the only one doing so. A rotten smell hangs in the air. There is nobody there to rescue you. You cough and wipe your mouth with your sleeve and look around, angry now. One guy suddenly dashes out of line, heading towards a line of trees a hundred yards to the west. He gets 30 feet and then he’s gunned down by Blackwater men. He could have waited - he could have bought some more time, maybe a minute, maybe more. What did it bring him to be a hero and try and make a run for it? Nobody cared. You’re still here and he is not. You smile. More Blackwater guards have arrived. They begin joking amongst themselves, pointing at the sullen men queued up in the long march to be decontaminated. One turns and makes eye contact with many. You all smell like I hope there’s some soap left by the time you reach the shower. Only clean pigs allowed here. The other Blackwater guards begin another loud round of laughter. The line continues its occasional surges forward . It has been hours. There must have been a thousand ahead of you, but thankfully, you near the doors. You hear muffled sounds within the building, unable to make out the words, the meaning. You hear doors open and close. Then you and others move quickly through a hallway, and told to take your clothes of a put them on the floor. Helpers walk up and down the hallway now. The helpers cheerfully tell everyone that their clothes will bell tagged and return after their decontaminated. The mood brightens a bit around you. You can even hear a few joking. Orders are for everyone to remain calm and quiet. You're reminded that there is plenty of warm water for everyone. It becomes silent now, as you all shuffle slowly towards another door. When the door opens, the helpers guide you in and you’re told to not bunch up together, and reminded that it's selfish to waste too much warm water. You look up and see shower heads above you. You want to ask why the floor is not wet, but are afraid they’ll beat you if you raise your voice. You notice now that the room smells of urine and death. Before you can say anything, the doors slam shut and the lights go out and a gas slowly rises up from the showerheads towards the ceiling. You think to yourself - there might still be time that someone may somehow burst in to rescue all of you. You hear sobbing and realize it is coming from you. And now you take in one long breath and your mind begins to fade to black.

I remember when OPEC got the average Americans attention the first time. Lines of cars that spanned several blocks and the price hit .50 cents, then .60 cents per gallon. We watched the gas stations all convert their pumps over to handle gas priced over the $1.00 mark. We became fuel economy minded as the White House installed a Solar panel system to generate electricity. Then , for some reason, the Solar panels were removed, we adjusted to the cost of gas at $1.09 to $1.50 per gallon and forgot all about the fuel shortages we experienced not once BUT TWICE. We fell in love with SUV's with load carrying capabilities of 2000 pounds even though we only utilized 10% of that with single occupancy at 10 MPG's. We saw no conflict of interest with two men in the White House who made their fortunes in oil as we waged war on a nation that sat on the second largest oil reserves in the world. And now, we face $4.00 and up per gallon, a wrecked economy, a military force that's ready to collapse, and Global Climate changes that may result in the Sixth Great Extinction. We knew this was coming-at least those of us who are now in our forties-and most of us have done nothing but to add to the problem. We new about peak oil, Global Climate change, and the long term need to develop alternative energy sources and yet, we did nothing. I have not owned a car since 1994-I live in Southern California-I do not get blood on my hands by filling up a gas tank. If I can do it, so can more of you as long as you are willing to make a couple life style changes. Sooner or later, some of you will have to give up the cars you drive-wouldn't it be better to do it on your own terms and by choice?

It's not the oil, it's not the price. Their are just to many humans around, here, there, everywhere. Maybe we as a species have a change when we reduce our number to somewhere in the neighborhood of one billion a go on living sustainable, otherwise my great great great grandfather Thomas Malthus gets right after all. There is no endless growth possible on a globe.

Thanks, Roland; where else do you post?

"Dirt cheap" is only possible because oil is still relatively dirt cheap. And solar panels have never been within reach of anyone with less than many thousands of discretionary dollars.And when oil goes up in price, so do costs for making solar panels, delivering them and installing them. And how about apartment dwellers or multiple-car families? Get real for once. There isn't any wonky gee-whiz techno way to sustain the motoring public. I have lost patience with the technophiles.

EDMUND HOUSE: YOU ARE CORRECT... BARACK OBAMA and MARY LANDRIEU FOR 'o8.

Ken D. Webber in his upstream post has it right... the technophobic nay saying of solar, wind etc ignores what is already happening. Check out Nanosolar, IBM concentrated solar, Project Better Place, and an ever increasing number of companies working on non-fossil fueled transport. A tech solution will happen in places with adequate financial resources and mindset even WITHOUT breakthroughs such as dirt cheap printing-press solar panel manufacturing, which of course IS underway right now! If we want change to occur sooner, we only need to remove the obstacles in our own thinking, which will inevitably lead to their removal in the political sphere.

Solar, Wind...sure. Why not. They'll help. But guess what's gonna keep all those nifty little Ipods, and scrumptious Macs from browning out, gang. Yep. You guessed her, Chester. Nukes. The new nuke plants can be up in 4 years time. They literally can't meltdown. And they'll fire up your plug-in car, arriving en masse in 2010, at the princely rate of 3 cents a mile. You're paying 17 cents a mile right now, or more. When the new bandwagon really starts to roll, the U.S. stock market will double in about 5 years. We win big, faster than anyone now realizes. Arabs lose. Cellulosic ethanol, and hydrogen will come on line in due course. Welcome aboard! Citizens! Rejoice! Prepare yourselves for the Rise of the New Consumer. And, enjoy a new, parabolic stock market. Technology may not be god, but man, it can fly like an angel!