In his letter, William B. Orberson states that Baron Hill said that he wants to go after speculators. He refers to that in a negative way as if that is ridiculous and would not solve the problem. The fact is that over a year or two ago the CEO of Exxon Mobil said that the rising cost of oil was not being caused by supply and demand but was being determined by speculation. Unfortunately the media ignored him. In April of this year, an executive of Exxon Mobil repeated something similar under oath before Congress. He said that if the price of oil was being determined by supply and demand it would be about $55 a barrel. I don't know for sure but it is possible that the threat made by Baron Hill and some other members of Congress to go after the speculators might have had a positive effect. The cost of a barrel of oil is down quite a bit.
