Robert Bryce on Oil Speculation

By Robert Murphy -- January 6, 2009 11 Comments

Robert Bryce is one of the leading journalists on energy issues.  He is Managing Editor of Energy Tribune, and in a recent article gave a mea culpa on oil speculators:

Back in June, I wrote a piece for The American in which I argued that oil prices were being driven higher by the immutable law of supply and demand. Today, with prices plunging to near $40 instead of the $145 level seen in mid-July, it’s abundantly obvious that speculators were a key driver, probably the main driver, of the surge in oil prices that occurred between late 2007 and July.

So, to be clear, I was wrong. The leaders of OPEC were right. So, too, was my pal, Ed Wallace. In May, Wallace, a savvy journalist from Fort Worth who writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Business Week, published several articles [in] which he showed how the unregulated futures market was being used by speculators to push prices upward.

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James Hansen, Climate Scientist and Leading Alarmist, Tells Obama His Version of the Truth

By Robert Murphy -- January 4, 2009 1 Comment

NASA scientist and leading global warming alarmist James Hansen has written an open letter to President-Elect Obama, in which he wants to tell the truth on these important matters. There are some refreshingly candid quotes, but in the end it seems Dr. Hansen has fatally undercut his own position. …

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