Are Gas Companies Toying With Gas Prices to Help Get a Republican in the White House? | AlterNet
U.S. demand for oil and refined products — including gasoline — is down sharply from last year, so much that the United States has become a net exporter of gasoline, unable to consume all it makes.
Yet oil and gasoline prices are spiraling upward. [...]
While tension over Iran has ratcheted up in the past few months, oil and gasoline prices have leapt far beyond conventional supply-and-demand variables. Financial speculators are piling into the market, torquing the Iranian fear factor into ever-higher prices.
"Speculation is now part of the DNA of oil prices. You cannot separate the two anymore. There is no demarcation,"said Fadel Gheit, a 30-year veteran of energy markets and an analyst at Oppenheimer. "I still remain convinced oil prices are inflated."
Gee, I wonder what happened to the invisible hand of the free market? Well to be honest, I don;t really wonder about that at all. You see, we've seen these types of "games" before in election years.
For example, wasn't it funny how in both 2004 and 2006 oil prices declined significantly in the run-up to the November elections at a time when lower prices would presumably benefit Republican incumbents.
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Not so bright to ratchet up the thing with Iran in an election year?
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