Go dig a hole, step in the hole and cover it up. You are the main reason for the worlds economy being what it is. Oil should be $20 per barrel not $75 since it only costs $5 to get it out of the ground. I hope all OPEC nations dry up, crumble and blow away in the wind. Greedy animals!

@To OPEC: Wow, that's quite a bit of venom directed towards OPEC. But to say that they're the "main reason for the world's economy being what it is" is to not only overstate the effect of oil prices on the economy, it's to totally misunderstand the economy altogether! OPEC isn't able to affect oil prices quite as much as you'd like to think. If you want to point the finger at those responsible for the sad condition of the world's economy, you don't have to go looking at foreign perpetrators. We have more than enough of them here in the good ol' USA.

If you mean speculators, may I remind you that speculators responded the way they did because OPEC started slashing production. Some time after that the war started which caused greater supply concerns. Opec is getting greedy if they are refusing to allow prices to normalize at the $10.00 a barrel it was befor this whole mess started. And Oil DOES affect the global economy. OIl prices go up, gas goes up, transportation costs go up, everything else follows. If Obama avoids FDR type policies prices all over could normalize in just a few months. This is normal, part of the boom and bust cycle. However Congress can really mess things up if they don't stop panicing. SO far they are making all the same mistakes FDR made that took a prolonged recession and turned it into the great Depression. (Read: Thr Forgotten Man by Amy Shlaes.) If the government backs off socialism and allows the market to normalize we'll be fine, but it DOES start with Oil, and if you had been following this from the beginning rather than bamming big bad US of KKKA then you'd know that.

"Go dig a hole, step in the hole and cover it up. You are the main reason for the worlds economy being what it is. Oil should be $20 per barrel not $75 since it only costs $5 to get it out of the ground. I hope all OPEC nations dry up, crumble and blow away in the wind. Greedy animals!"

Hey genius, the world economy is in shambles due to the housing bust and mortgage mess. Energy prices are affected by......DEMAND! Have you noticed demand is down because we are in a recession? The worldwide recession was created by...you guessed it, USA!

@Daniel: I assume you're aiming your remarks at me. And I was not referring to speculators. Speculators are not only NOT a problem, they are merely responses to distortions in the economy. Also, I didn't say oil didn't affect the economy. I only said it's not so disproportionate as "To OPEC" makes it out to be. I'm not sure how you arrive at a "normalized" price of $10/bbl of oil. I'd be interested to hear how you determine it. I also disagree with you that the business cycle, i.e., booms and busts, is a normal phenomenon. They're a result of expansions and contractions in the money supply, courtesy of the Federal Reserve and the fractional banking system. I happen to agree with much of what Amy Shlaes has to say about the Great Depression, so I'm not so sure what you're reading into what I said previously. I agree with you that the best thing congress could do in the current economic crisis is nothing. Let the economy find its own level of equilibrium rather than trying to prop up prices and employment levels artificially. Anything else?

The reason speculators, investors and many others put your 401ks/investments into oil futures is because there was very little left that they could safely expect to raise 10 percent returns a month.
Speculators thought oil would be the dream child of the next 20 years.
Remember the dot.com bubble bust?
Well,
this was the deliciously 'light sweet crude oil' bubble bust.

/The stuff is nasty,
why do they call it 'light sweet crude'?

Can you imagine the fear it would strike into the hearts of greedly OPEC members if Obama would announce American oil companies will be allowed to drill in Alaska and off shore? Send chills of joy up and down my capitolistic spine just to think about it! On the other hand, I know socialistic Obama will prefer to remain hostage to OPEC, oil prices will go back up and Americans will continue to suffer! And for what? Socialistic nonsense! Talk about the redistribuion of wealth? Exactly so,from your pocket to some Arab's pocket! That's just wonderful! So much for the wonders of redistribution!

DRILL now | 5:17 p.m. Why are 85% of oil leases on public lands not being drilled? This would indicate to anyone versed in market economics that there's no money in drilling them.

We liberals tried to keep conservatives from looking stupid again. You guys are so shameless about being made chumps. Just say the sky is falling and you all go running to hide under your beds.

Gas is drown because the liquidity crisis forced cash strapped speculators to liquidate there oil commodity positions.

If you knew the simplest of math you would have known why prices climbed. If I buy something traded global with dollars worth half, I pay double. Ask your ten year old to explain the math to you. Ask him to go real slow so you get it this time around.

Not a new hole as been drill. The Arctic Wildlife Reserve is still wildly pristine and you conservatives have egg to remove from your cute chubby faces.

Don't worry, next next Rush or Fox will start scaring you about taking Christ out of Christmas. Tis the season.