Laurie had to see this one coming 😉
The Washington Post reported Friday that a big factor in the rising price of oil are oil investors who are less regulated today than they were 5 years ago.
That as these investors continue to buy long term investments on oil futures, the price of oil (and thus gas) continues to rise as a result.
You can hear a summary of the article from NPR or read the full story here.
According to more and more folks, the supply and demand of oil hasn’t changed that much over the last 18 months – especially not enough to make gas prices rise as rapidly as they have.
It would seem to me that as the US housing market has crashed over the last 18 months, investors are looking for other ways to spend all their “big pool of money” and are turning to the commodities market which they can invest in without many of the older restrictions.
And even still, at $3.85 a gallon, I can’t even fill my truck up with $75 worth of gas – but do you realize that’s more than billions of people around the world make in 75 days?! I don’t like paying high gas prices – but there are other options. I could ride my bike a lot more, I could walk, I can take public transportation, I could car-pool.
As Brian pointed out yesterday, if you make more than $35,000 a year in the U.S., you’re among the top 4% of the wealthiest people in the WORLD. If you make more than $50,000 a year – you’re in the top 1%.
Maybe we (I) should stop complaining and pointing fingers as much and start thanking God for my blessings.
