>Of course somebody is making a nice buck - I don't doubt that. But then again, it is not a single person or entity which controls prices. There are several producers and several consumers, so I think the law of supply and demand would indeed be operative.

But this is what I'm trying to get to the bottom of.
I think that, in California, they thought the same thing - that it *must* be legitimate "supply and demand" factors that were affecting the price. Later they found out that a market where people HAVE TO BUY THE PRODUCT is indeed suceptible to manipulation and that Enron was in fact manipulating, with other who also 'enjoyed' the benefit keeping quiet and counting their cash.

It *IS* set (the price of oil) in a single place - apparently the New York Mercantile Exchange. So in fact it is a very small club. I want to know the membership (oil futures 'buyers') and WHO THEY REPORT TO.

Jim



>
>Then of course, on the other hand, there is always the possibility of a secret conspiracy.
>
>I don't doubt that governments, and perhaps some more secret groups, try to influence not only petroleum prices but also lots of other things of the World situation. But, I don't think that there is any single group that controls absolutely everything, and I sort of suspect that things have gone sort of out of control, even for the most powerful governments.
>
>>Hilmar,
>>
>>So you think it's out of control.
>>
>>But then why would prices go up UNLESS someone is making a nice buck on this?
>>
>>Someone *IS* making a nice buck! And it looks like it's the same person who sets the price. When you have a captive market - which is where things are now with oil - people HAVE TO BUY. The law of supply and demand is not operative in such cases, but it's awfully handy to make it look like it is the cause.
>>
>>something definitely stinks. I still guess it comes down to WHO is setting the price and what THEY get out of the price.
>>
>>Jim