I thought it was relatively common knowledge that the main reason for the rise in fuel costs is speculators trading in oil futures?

 

I suspect your average man in the street couldn't care less what the actual cause is, Rich. All he knows is that it costs more to run his car, and it's easiest to blame the government.

The latter is a pretty sound general assumption anyway - Gordon Clown does seem to have a habit of constantly standing on his own oversize shoes and tripping himself up

 

It sounds like you are implying that the current high prices are because of some city trader, this is a rather ignorant statement

 

Okay genius, why you don't you tell us why oil prices are rising as quickly as they are then?

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by russellhq.

 

Obviously the city trading in oil has risen prices but that is the effect, what is the cause? Well they must be speculating on something and if they are all at it, hence the rise in prices, so what is it that they know that's causing them to ramp up prices?

Well it's usually 2 things, supply and demand. If we look at supply, then the finite nature of oil may actually be catching us up and combining this with the uncertainty of the size of actual oil reserves, then this is probably making people twitchy. Then there is demand, a rising demand from emerging markets would amplify the effects of a short/uncertain supply. We could look to China as an example of a country that is becoming very industrialised and hence a continuing rise in demand for oil, and with a populating over 4 times that of the US then that could be a lot of demand for oil.

These are only a couple things that could be affecting the price of oil...

 

I'm not in this to win friends, I far prefer the debate

 

Oil prices are rising because people (including governments) are greedy. The same reason the entire economy is heading down the pan...

 

The debate is interesting, I just think you need to work on your debating skills a little

 

Some articles talking about price rises vs speculators vs supply and demand.

Reuters - FACTBOX acrticle today

Congress trying to reign in speculators

[URL=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article3998971.ece]Trader makes