"The work by Michael Masters, president of the Masters Capital Management hedge fund, blames investors who buy and hold an index of commodities for driving prices to records and for their subsequent drop...Masters testified three times before Congress this year, arguing that limits on traders would cut oil prices to $65 to $70 a barrel. He has been cited by lawmakers who introduced at least 20 measures to curb speculation."

"So, in sum, we know A) high gas prices aren't related to supply, and therefore drilling more won't curb high gas prices and re-regulating Wall Street, cracking down on oil industry consolidation, and investigating energy company collusion is the best way to get at the problem. We know this not just because of whats happening now, but because of what has happened over the last decade.

"Here is an excerpt of the energy chapter from my book, Hostile Takeover that spells it all out:

Between 2000 and 2004 American oil companies stuck consumers with about a quarter trillion in price hikes. Those might have been justified if physical supplies of crude oil had dwindled, and the industry's overall profits stayed roughly even. But they didn't  “crude supplies remained relatively constant, and the price spikes resulted in a $50-$80 billion increase in after-tax windfall profits for the industry.

In October 2004, Consumers Union took a look at the situation, and found that in the first nine months of that year, oil companies’ profits increased by a whopping 35 percent. The watchdog group found that the price increases that created those profits came more from higher charges for refining the crude oil into gasoline, than from higher prices for the raw crude itself (i.e., supply). Why would those refining charges increase? Because federal regulators have allowed the oil industry to pursue their goal of deliberately reducing refining capacity to create artificial bottlenecks that drive up the overall price of gasoline. And it has been deliberate. "If the U.S. petroleum industry doesn't reduce its refining capacity," said a 1995 internal Chevron memo, "It will never see any substantial increase in refinery profits."

The government's complicity in this has been bipartisan. For instance, President Clinton's regulators at the Federal Trade Commission approved 413 mergers in the refining industry worth about $265 billion. He was topped by President George W. Bush, whose regulators approved another 520 mergers worth $178 billion in just his first three years in office. Today, five of the largest American oil companies controlling 48 percent of domestic oil production, 50 percent of refining, and 62 percent of the retail gasoline market.

What does this consolidation mean for the average person? Artificially higher prices.

At the gas pump it is most obvious. As the FTC reported after gas prices rose in 2001, oil firms were intentionally withholding or delaying oil shipments to keep prices up“ a practice they euphemistically referred to as "profit-maximizing."

In 2005, gas prices rose again “and again profiteering was the root cause. California provides a clear case study. Petroleum industry analyst Tim Hamilton released a report documenting how between January and April 2005, gas prices in the Golden State jumped 65 cents per gallon. This occured even though "no public evidence exists of substantive increases to oil companies in the cost of a) producing crude oil; b) refining oil into gasoline or diesel; or c) transporting the refined products to market." Where did the money go? Straight into the oil companies pockets“ Hamilton discovered that at exactly the time consumers were hit with the 65 cent-per-gallon increase, oil refiners increased their profits by 61 cents per gallon.

"This is the oil/gas version of the Enron speculators shutting down power plants in order to artificially jack up prices - and it is precisely what the "drill, baby, drill!" crowd doesn't want to talk about, because that crowd is underwritten by the same oil industry and Wall Street speculators that are making a killing off the status quo.

"As the Wall Street Journal today reports on progressive congressional legislation "to scale back how institutions can invest in index funds that track commodities markets," conservatives are desperate to substitute a debate about supply for a debate about what's actually going on. And when Democrats validate the supply nonsequitur by joining GOP calls for more drilling, they not only ignore polls showing the public blames the oil industry, nor do they merely alienate potential swing constituencies who don't want oil and gas rigs in their backyards - they go on record in support of a lie, one that protects the oil industry profiteers and makes the energy crisis worse."

And since Republicans and their candidates are all about government of, by, and for the wealthy and corporations, this is no surprise.  However, if they persuade the public with their lies and the Democrats give in to those lies instead of vigorously countering Republican dishonesty, the energy crisis will get worse.