"JohnH" wrote in message
...

Bzzzt. I asked first, and you haven't answered. Explain how the US
price is "out of hand".

The price elsewhere is completely irrelevant. That's your answer to the
Europe issue. As far as the price here, 25% to 35% of it consists of
trading
excess, like tech stocks before the bottom fell out. For stocks, it
doesn't
matter, because nobody is required to own them. For oil, the design of our
country (which only gets worse) mandates its use. The oil companies,
knowing
this, do whatever they want with the price. That's a crime, and should be
dealt with.


What would you do, Doug?
John

Limit futures trading to companies which have a material interest in the
commodity being traded, in this case, oil. Eliminate speculators, who, by
definition, are in no way involved with the production of petroleum
products. This latter group is simply playing games. Stopping this would not
totally eliminate the fluff in the price, but it would go far in that
direction.