Editor, The Commercial:
I had hoped for a time when editorialists, financial page reporters, investment counselors, et al., would openly admit and write about the speculation in oil stocks! Many could write on the issue far better than I can.
Folks dance around the excuses for the gasoline price volatility but haven’t the guts to “tell it like it is” for the edification of the readership. When any commodity is scarce but vital ( whether temporarily scarce or expected to be scarce ) Big Money will invest in that commodity with every expectation of capitalizing on the misfortunes of the dependent public buyers of it. They do not consider poverty-stricken old folks or hungry kids. It is simply business as usual for them, and they sleep well at night with no thought for the needs of the common folk!
They know we have become a “one person in one car ” society. We no longer have many Greyhound buses and 90 percent of our rail passenger capability no longer exists. Mass transit is a laughable concept since we’ve zoned our bedroom communities far away from our factories, and commuting 50 miles to work is now commonplace. No, folks, it’s not the local gasoline dealers’ fault. It’s not the seasonal refinery changes. It’s simply Big Money speculating on the scarcity of oil and the growing demand for it.
And you, your wife and kids are not a consideration. Your “bought-and-paid-for Congress” is not about to make any part of that illegal either.
Karl Hansen
Hensley