I have been wondering if some kind of holiday like the banking industry was put on in the 1930s would have any effect? Personally, I can't afford gas to go to work any more and only have a 15 mile drive. If none of us are working for two or three days because we can't buy fuel; then something has to give, doesn't it?

Nice to know that commodity traders are allowed to manipulate prices. It's really no different than when Enron manipulated the prices of electric power in California. Get a clue Washington, we don't need to tax the oil companies we need to double the capital gains on these trading firms.

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” ~ Thoreau

Commodity traders are only symptoms of the evil in our economic structure. The root is in the central banking system. Federal Reserve members are given unrestricted authority to create money out of thin air. Traders use that flood of new money to invest in whatever stock or commodity seems to be inflating most rapidly. In the 90's it was internet stocks, Early in this century, it was real estate. Now that the real estate bubble is collapsing, new money is flowing into energy and other commodities futures. The Federal Reserve is the source of these economic bubbles when they flood the market with new money. They operate under Keynesian methods which tell them that debt will result in prosperity.

You want to strike at the root of evil? Get rid of the Federal Reserve and the central banking system, including fractional banking.

I agree.

Is that really the root problem? In my opinion, the real root problem is the greed of mankind. The banking system is just a representation of that. A tool that the greedy use to get what they want. If it's done away with, something else will come along and take it's place. Until humanity learns to think in a new way, where money and power aren't valued above all other things, then we'll always have problems like these. I don't have enough faith in mankind to believe it will ever happen.

It is inflation. Everyone needs to go to their employers and tell them they need a double in pay or they will not be coming to work anymore.

Greed is a root problem, but it's one that will never be eliminated, either through preaching or legislation. I don't know how you're going to ever overcome that problem in life. And, of course, the banking system was created by some of the most ingenious and greediest people on earth. The problem is, they convinced us to buy into their system so they could exploit us. Their system is called central banking and fractional banking. Yes, we do have to be ever vigilant against such schemes, because those kinds of people are forever inventing ways to fleece us. But this is one of the most effecient and malicious. Your wish for eliminating greed is not for this world, but the next if you believe in that sort of thing.

Dave, inflation is CAUSED by the Federal Reserve! That's what they do. First of all, they inflate the supply of money, and price inflation is a natural consequence of an inflated money supply! That's how it works!

This illustrates that Dick Chaney's secret energy task force was a complete success for the oil companies.

Secret Energy Task Force????GET REAL!!!
Dick Chaney???WHO IS HE????
You are not referring to our patriotic Vice President are you???

i mentioned before it was sadaam .... that was why i went to the gulf in 91 so one man couldn't control most of the worlds oil,,, thus the $60 barrel, oh and also we went into iraq this time to pay for the war, and get rid of sadaam for good didn't we?

Affordable sustainable OIL is a thing of the past. Time to end the Oil based economy, and invest in the MADE IN AMERICA electric economy

According to the DOE website figures and my math, by cutting 60% of the vehicle usage and 50% of the diesel fuel usage by implementing the above strategies, we would lower the daily consumption by 7.556 Million Barrels Per Day (.60 x 9.16 MBD + .5 x 4.12 MBD), approximately 1/3 of the daily total usage of petroleum.
Additionally, 7.556 MBD is 5.4 times as much as the estimated daily output from ANWAR of only 1.4 MBD. By the way the 10.4 Billion Barrels of oil in ANWAR would only cover the 13.15 Million Barrels of Imported oil for 2.17 years. Why spend all those millions on finding, drilling, building a pipeline, shipping, etc, when those millions can be spent on ending our dependence on oil.
The whole point of this matter is that our Country has run out of oil as a sustainable source of transportation fuel. WE USE MORE THAN WE HAVE AND MUST IMPORT IT FROM PLACES THAT DO NOT LIKE AND THAT OPPOSE OUR COUNTRY.
Therefore, the PRUDENT and AMERICAN thing to do is develop a new source or sources of ENERGY and become self sufficient in our needs.

Let's all take a step back about OUR U.S. government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for a minute. Remember back in Clinton's 2nd Term in Office?, when a heatwave went through NYC, and not only did Bill open up OUR RESERVE, that we were buying oil at $4 a berrel at that time, but all the window unit A/C's he bought ppl, most all showed up in pawn shops, and oil jumped up to $64 a berrel, and now WE CAN'T seem to fill that empty glass back up, because of wasteing it, so who is "to blame"?. Think about the oil-price forecast for the second half of the year to $141 a barrel. Than let the liberal's "Back in Washington, bash the the Bush administration, who bowed to congressional pressure and agreed to temporarily stop filling a key government oil stockpile, potentially increasing supply even further," GUESS WHAT - It's "NOW" 2008 - what have we learned since President Nixon was in Office - in a 40 year repeats-its-self-cycle every 40-years - Fuel for thought: It's not the people addicted to oil, it's the liberal politicians addicted to money from oil producers. Think about it.

I didn't vote for Bush or his minions in either election. Knew that if he got in we'd end up in this situation.

Those of you who voted for him, especially in both elections, need to get the hell out of the way, and let voters more rationally qualified and less hostage to neo-Con/Religious fanaticm thinking get this nation back on a more reasonable and respectful economic, political and diplomatic track.