The higher that oil prices go the sooner we will get serious about alternative sources of energy. It is both necessary and inevitable that oil prices have risen and will continue to rise. Manipulation is a word that gets thrown around by people who are frustrated and lack an understanding of how markets work. Supply and Demand are the only two factors that are capable of sustaining a price move, such as the one we see in oil.
Please explain how the forces of "Supply & Demand" entered into the California power market as Enron "gamed" the marketplace . . .
"The California electricity crisis (also known as the Western Energy Crisis) of 2000 and 2001 resulted from a physcial imbalance between supply and demand arising from years of poor planning and negligence by California energy officials. Some allege the gaming of a partially deregulated California energy system by energy companies such as Enron and Reliant Energy was the sole cause, however this was proven incorrect by the FERC. The energy crisis was characterized by a combination of extremely high prices and rolling blackouts. Price instability and spikes lasted from May 2000 to September 2001. Due to price controls, utility companies were paying more for electricity than they were allowed to charge customers, forcing the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric and the public bail out of Southern California Edison. This led to a shortage in energy and therefore, blackouts. Rolling blackouts began in June 2000 and recurred several times in the following 12 months." -Wikipedia: California Electricity Crisis
The California electricity crisis was a local and domestic event. The oil price is in an international market which will exist even if the domestic oil markets here are closed. The political allegations against the high oil price in Congress are part of the blame culture wherein the politicians do not accept responsibility for anything and assign blame to others. Happens all the time. They blame the opposite party or someone else or something else - all the time, never stops. They know they must keep feeding this blame-someone-else shit to a gullible electorate. There is always a large measure of stupidity to be seen in those that waste their time sucking on conspiracy theories, manipulation and blaming others. They are willing to believe in any old dogshit, or make it up if necessary, so they can see themselves and others as victims. As to trading, they are not rich, they are not trying to make themselves rich, they yap and whine, they peddle their noise on ET and all they are doing is jacking around. If you look across ET over the time I've been registered almost all of those posting now weren't here a few years ago. All these losers are just passing through.
Admittedly , the vulgarians driving those vile beasts of the road, the SUV, are as much to blame as the profiteers. Gas guzzling wastes of tin.
Very witty - I laughed. And wit does give some relief from the constant diet of socialist or lefty liberal dogshit peddled on ET.
Your point is well taken, but obvious. The point of significance is whether or not the deregulation back in December 2000 by Phil Gramm of the energy markets which allowed for the emergence of "online" exchanges such as EnronOnline, the ICE, and the DME to trade WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE crude oil ( which is delivered in Cushing, Oklahoma ) without CFTC supervision, position limits, transparency, etc. That's the point.