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In reply to the discussion: Brutal Recession Destroyed Americans' Wealth, Net Worth Down 40% In 3 Years (Forbes) [View all]girl gone mad
(20,634 posts)This claim runs contrary to reality. Demand from China did not cause the rise in oil and demand destruction did not cause the collapse. It was speculation.
I witnessed traders participating in and manipulating these markets firsthand in 2007. Now the history has been written and there is no doubt that the spectacular rise in oil prices was driven largely by financial speculation.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/02/krugman-commodity-prices-and-speculators.html
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/05/wikileaks-saudis-warned-about-oil-speculators-in-2007-and-2008.html
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564.htm
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/02/07/871351/collateralised-commodity-borrowing-bp-edition/
http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/02/26/how-the-gas-prices-are-manipulated-by-the-koch-brothers-and-other-wall-street-players/
http://exiledonline.com/koch-industries-lackeys-admit-to-manipulating-oil-prices-and-gloat-about-it-too/
ETA: no... I don't have my dates wrong.
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=oil+contango+2007