Democrats clearly don’t understand the mechanisms of pricing.  Their 
rhetoric on speculators demonstrates this, as it misses the point.  
Speculators matter only in shortage economies, as the future value of 
any commodity becomes more relevant in inverse proportion to its 
availability.  Even apart from that, speculators want to make money just as 
in any other commodity trading.  If they foresaw a glut of oil, they’d bet 
short on it just as quickly as they’re going long on oil now.
 All of this is Econ 101, as the U-L notes.  That may be a bit below King Banaian’s focus as chair of 
economics at St. Cloud State University, but I’m pretty certain that King would 
be gracious enough to schedule a lecture series for Congressional Democrats who 
want to learn how markets work rather than continually work from ignorance to 
the detriment of the nation.  (via Let Freedom Ring)