Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya)

Re:Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) by natrius on Saturday March 12, 2011 @02:26AM (#2316285)

And if those speculators are right, people will be praising them for having the foresight to save oil for such a situation, which will lower prices compared to the speculation-free scenario.

Speculation could probably have negative effects on markets in theory, but it's so hard to take such claims seriously since they're rarely based on sound economics.

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Re:Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) by im3w1l on Saturday March 12, 2011 @02:37PM (#2317296)

Speculation has had negative effects in practice: The tulip crisis. Sometimes speculation can turn into a pyramid game. I'm not saying that this is always, or even often the case, but it is sometimes the case.

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Re:Why Gas Is So Expensive Today (Hint: It’s Not Libya) by RickHull on Saturday March 12, 2011 @03:34PM (#2317433)

> Speculation has had negative effects in practice: The tulip crisis

Guess who got hurt in the tulip crisis?

...

The speculators. Their harm tends to be self-contained.

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