...and in the "DUH!" dept. we have...

[smokey the elder]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/...il_speculation

WASHINGTON - Speculation by large investors — and not supply and demand for oil — were a primary reason for the surge in oil prices during the first half of the year and the more recent price declines, an independent study concluded Wednesday....

I'm SHOCKED! (Not!)

If you look at three different graphs: the runup of the NASDAQ between 1999 and 2000; the runup in housing prices prior to the housing collapse; and the runup in oil, they are quite similar in shape! Oil is complicated because there's an underlying possibility of so-called "peak oil", which means we're getting as much now as we'll ever be able to get. Still, 100% growth in a year for anything keeps proving over and over again to be unsustainable.