What up S? Traderyin there is a big difference in being an investor and being a speculator or I should say in being a hedger vs a speculator. the Gov must find a way to get the Pension accounts out of long oil and by dubbing them speculators they can enact ordinances which put limits on the amount they can speculate on.... In fact as Ihave said before simply making the oil market a real market with no electronic hidden trades, a market where if you buy a barrel you receive a barrel in the mail will quickly make a distinction between who is a real hedger in the oil market and who is a fat assed quant sitting on his pencils taking down the American dream from behind a gated community somewhere. This bending of the truth that DEMAND this great demand is driving prices flys in the face of the global slowdown. In Asia and Europe new orders for goods are dropping off a cliff. In fact Manufacturing activity in the euro zone contracted in June for the first time in three years !!! While business confidence in Asia's largest export markets is buckling. Generally when economists use the term " buckling " there is no great ' demand ' there.... Purchasing managers indices showed manufacturing activity in the euro zone fell to 49.2 in June. But what of China you say, aren't they this great big power hungry nation gobbling up all the worlds available oil??? No, China saw its index fall to a near THREE-YEAR low of 52.0 Britain contracted at its sharpest rate since December 2001. 'Contracted' this is another word that does not jive with ' demand ' Factories worldwide have struggled in the face of soaring raw material and energy costs -- 'struggled' a third word that does not bring overwhelming demand to mind. How bout the world's number 2 Japan? Japan's tankan corporate index of big manufacturers' sentiment dropped to plus 5, from 11 in March, showing their mood has not been darker since 2003. Never ' darker ' for the big manufacturers I guess they will be running their oil non stop in the never darker environment.... Well at least Britain- there we can say demand is still strong can't we:?The UK's manufacturing sector saw output and new orders fall at their fastest rate in almost a decade. Fastest fall in a decade for UK manufacturing no over time no extended shifts cut backs in production this = more oil? So these rallying commodities steel, allum etc. are being used by whom exactly? Lets take all the speculators out of the game for a year and just see where everything settles shall we? Lets ban going unlimited short without receiving the actual product. Lets throw open the oil reserves and pump Iraq dry. lets not use this crisis as an excuse to green light drilling in Alaska or off the coast of CA for that will make me thing twice about our Gov's true intentions as I was forced to after 9/11. Isn't this attack on the environment just what the big oil Republicans have been after all along? Now what is their real impetus to get oil to drop fast to under $100? Something to think about. ~ stoney