There's no oil "ramp" going on... it's all demand-driven. GWB has the power to dampen demand, but only over the long term, and he's too weak to do it.
The current oil price of oil is due to demand. Speculators and hedge funds CANNOT influence the price of oil unless they are actually taking physical delivery, which they are not... they are just flipping futures contracts before they fall due. For the speculators to be affecting price to this degree, they would have to be taking physical delivery of a quantity of oil the size of the US Strategic Reserve every month. Where are they putting it? In their filing cabinets? Under their mattresses? If speculators are at fault, there's a lot of missing oil somewhere.
None of it excuses Dixon et al for not anticipating Peak Oil. Especially considering they had more than 50 years advance notice.
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