The role of speculators in the world’s oil markets has been widely blamed for bringing consumers $4 gasoline last summer — and rightly so. A recently completed study by two Baker Institute scholars further confirms that this blame is not misplaced and recommends specific ways to do something to limit the speculators’ influence.

Research by Baker’s Amy Myers Jaffe and Kenneth Medlock shows that speculation increased following the easing of regulations in the oil futures markets in 2006…

I said it at the time, it’s nice to have some data backing up my own gut feeling that there was nothing that should be causing the spikes in price…

It’s just another in the long list of things that conservatives keep getting wrong. Faith in the markets but no faith in the government…Where, if ever, did proof of that misplaced faith ever prove out to be a benefit to society?

via Oil bets are off: Rein in speculators to smooth markets | Editorial | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.