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We the consumers are being screwed here. Used to be, supply and demand set the price. Now, big speculators such as hedge funds with megabucks can corner and stampede or starve the market. Same story with food and other commodities, and people are getting hurt. Look at Haiti and Cairo food riots.
This sets the stage for price spikes and collapses. If the smartass speculators start to fear staying too late at the party, they'll dump futures and the price will plummet. Some economists think that ~60% of current prices are the result of such speculation, rather than supply/demand per se.
A price collapse is not too good, either, since it would kill the incentive and progress on developing alternate technologies, which we need.
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