Analyst Warns of $200/Barrel Oil*

*One barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons (or $4.76 per gallon)
In the Cato-at-Liberty blog post "Is There an Oil Price Bubble?" Cato senior fellow Jerry Taylor writes: "The most recent Fed actions to combat the deteriorating state of the macroeconomy added even more fuel to the oil price fire. With market actors increasingly convinced that the Fed is willing to entertain inflation in the course of injecting liquidity into the market, investors are looking for investments to hedge against inflation. And what do you know? Returns on commodities have historically been better during inflationary periods than during non-inflationary periods. Ben Bernanke thus sent another strong infusion of cash into commodity futures -- again, largely into oil and gas futures.

I wonder what is to blame for these prices?

I wonder what is to blame for these prices?

The short answer is the pinheads in the beltway can think only one election cycle ahead. They pander to their lobbyists and special
interest groups who contribute to their campaigns.

Also, OPEC isn't going to increase supply now, they're making
boatloads of money by not increasing supply. Now, we're forced to
live with our own inaction (not producing our own domestic supply)

We should invest more in alternative sources. Coal, sugar ethanol, or more developed hybrids are all options. I agree we should secure more of our own supply domestically. I think one of the biggest problems is our all or nothing approach. We can develop all the various forms plus solar power for home usage but it appears everyone is out for their own narrow-minded idea to the exclusion of all the possibilities inclusively.

our all or nothing approach

We Americans expect and demand instant gratification.
Clinton could have opened ANWR over ten years ago.
We'd be there already, but the powers in DC are spineless cowards, and can't confront the environmentalist and their legions of lawyers. Coal to liquid, oil shale, personal solar are excellent options, but the best energy source is oil.

You have to admire someone who can preempt this and yet keeps a low profile...lots of character.

Certain segments of our society and government have been trying to get us to use less energy (gas,oil,electricity) for decades. I am not aware of anything they have done to change that course, nothing. I'm almost convinced that one of the underlying reason is so that we will depend more on mass transit which will add to city & state coffers.

All Congress would have to do is seriously *consider* moving ahead with drilling, refineries, nuclear, solar, etc....letting the free market and entrepreneurs fill the deep void...and oil prices would drop like a rock.

moving ahead with drilling, refineries, nuclear, solar, etc..

I'm convinced that if our energy policies were to change
direction toward energy independence, OPEC would
call for an emergency meeting to increase supply. (and
incrementally increase it, as long as we moved away from dependence on foreign oil)
Public transportation in Portland is excellent. Lots of
commuters have switched from driving to trimet. It should
be the model for a few metropolitan cities whose systems really suck!