On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average - the bluest of Wall Street’s blue chips - lost 4.4% in a single day. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been “seized” by the government. Oil continues to drop while gas prices rise. Inflation runs high while jobless claims continue to soar and gold falters. What a [...]

Global oil markets are sensitive to weekly reports of U.S. oil inventory levels. Prices often move up when large falls are reported and down when inventories build – particularly when the data surprises the market. Each Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes its report on oil inventories. Unexpected drops can spark price spikes [...]

My last post here at Amateur Economists was all about the crazy run-around I experienced trying to get heating oil delivered to our house this summer for the coming winter. We ordered the tank filled in early June; but it was just last week that I finally got a heating oil company to fill our [...]

The high oil prices have forced the government to act once again. Earlier it was the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act - an attempt to rein in speculations in the oil market.
In July 2008, when the price of oil touched $150 a barrel, the Federal Trade Commission came under increasing pressure from lawmakers to act [...]

In early June, worried about the rapid increase in the cost of oil, I called my home heating oil provider here in Michigan and ordered a delivery to fill our tank, which is currently almost on empty. The price to fill the tank at that date was just shy of $1100, and last winter we [...]

The rising oil prices have forced the government to act. Many experts have blamed the recent increase in oil prices on speculation. The government is planning to introduce a legislation - the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act - in an attempt to rein in speculations in the oil market. Will the legislation in its present [...]

On July 8, oilman T. Boone Pickens launched a personal initiative to promote wind power as a primary renewable energy source for the United States. Pickens wants the next U.S. president to lead the nation to 20% wind power by 2018 by tapping a “wind corridor” that runs from the Northern Midwest all the way [...]

In 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy published a report entitled Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, & Risk Management. Called “The Hirsch Report” after its lead author, Robert Hirsch, its purpose was to lay out a governmental strategy for softening the effects of peak oil and its aftermath: that is, the chaos and [...]

The price of oil continues to hit record high. Many believe the main reason for this is speculation.
The price of oil has nearly tripled since 2004. The trading in oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange also tripled since 2004. A mere coincidence? OPEC no longer controls the price of oil. Majority of the [...]