It's About Time

According to an article in today's New York Times, the Obama administration is considering the possibility of imposing regulations on those who speculate in oil and other energy commodities.

Thank God! It's about time! Everyone who has studied the wild gyrations in the cost of gasoline in the last three years has determined that the fluctuations were a result of speculator activity. The strict capitalists would like us to believe that the fluctuations were a result of supply and demand pressures, but prices were rising as supplies were increasing and demand was decreasing. So much for the forces of unfettered capitalism.

During the Bush administration, restrictions on speculators were severely mitigated and the speculators were given a free hand. Now it is time they are reined in.