"As a result, Iran needs oil to be priced as high as possible, no matter what effect it has on its customers. So Ahmadinejad and his mullah cronies thought up the crafty trick of threatening Israel with annihilation. Since this has provoked Israeli leaders to counter with threats to strike at Iran first, energy traders are understandably on red alert at all times. Oil is priced not just for today's value to current users, but also includes a premium that accounts for the possibility that supply might be severely kinked in the future. No one really knows what that premium is -- pick a number between $10 and $40 per barrel -- but Iran has essentially bullied its way to tens of billions of dollars in excess oil riches. Who says crime doesn't pay?"

That is an interesting point. If you watch the news, when Ahmy is on TV and threatening or Israeli leaders are on TV threatening back you witness a panic attack. Stockbrokers run to the floor with flailing arms buying and selling oil futures. The price goes upward for the rest of us.

This is exactly why I have been advocating taking stockbrokers out of the middle. I have read several articled indicating they have double the price of gas currently. And as the gas prices have gone sky high, it has driven a sharp inflation increase across a wide range of goods and servicing. The working poor and elderly on fixed incomes that were barely surviving previously are now going under.

Oil and gas are directly related to devastating inflation and therefore should be put off limits for greedy speculators trying to making outrageous profits at the expense of the entire economy.

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