PrintMay 2, 2012
Three Cheers for Oil Speculators!
Oil speculators are benefactors of humanity. We should be very grateful to all of them. Next time you see an oil speculator, thank him for what he is doing. Most Americans would strongly disagree with me. But they are wrong -- not morally wrong, but factually wrong.
One of the consequences of the recent increase in the price of gasoline has been the demonization of oil speculators. Politicians, journalists, talking heads, bloggers, and agitators have been denouncing speculators and proclaiming that the general public has been harmed by their speculating. Most of the anti-speculator rhetoric has been civil. But some of it can be described only as hate speech: Google "speculator, bloodsucker" and you will be directed to 295,000 websites. And this anti-speculator hysteria has not been confined to the usual suspects on the left. For example, the normally sensible Bill O'Reilly has been bloviating about the wicked oil...(Read Full Article)
