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  1. I’m a strong advocate of the idea that we should be using less natural gas by using more efficient furnaces and tankless water heaters. Now, we all know the pitfalls of efficiency, however this kind of efficiency – using less natural gas – is the right kind of efficiency. Preserving this resource for a longer term should be the primary objective, not inventing new ways to burn it.

  2. I thought those agitating for war with Iran were motivated almost exclusively by a desire to protect Israel.

  3. “The world would be a better place if more people thoroughly understood how the balance between supply of a commodity and demand for that commodity worked to establish market prices”

    Indeed, but do you claim to understand it yourself? The word “speculators” appears only once in the entire post, yet I believe most readers are aware that speculation controls the price more than anything else.

    The real cost of oil is estimated to be about $40, but the current spot price is just over $100 ($120 for Brent). It is widely believed that 60% of that price is speculation:

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8878

    To bring this a little closer to home, the contract price of nuclear fuel has dropped by about 30% in the last three months, in spite of supply remaining flat and rising demand (for the future):

    http://www.uxc.com/review/uxc_Prices.aspx

    Actually, if there’s any fair market to be found, it’s the gas stations in your town. They follow the age-old maxim of “charging what the market will bear”. If their neighbour can charge $4, so can they.

    1. Maury, I think you underestimate just how tight the global oil supply and demand balance is.

      If that high a percentage of the price of crude was mere speculation, wouldn’t the price spike to ~$140/bbl back in 2008 have prompted a much bigger crude oil production increase rather than acting as the match triggering a world-wide recession?

    2. Also Maury, considering that globalresearch link you provided is from May of 2008, I would have to consider it to be of very close to zero value today considering the historical price, consumption, and production data that is now available from the past almost 4 years.

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