crazy talk from the C-J on "speculators"

From the C-J editorialists on the Sunday op-ed page...

For better or worse, this looks like an attempt to bang on McConnell. But presumably it stems from the writer's ignorance about markets in general and futures markets in particular.

I love the claim toward the end that speculators are responsible for a significant part of the price increase-- while drilling will have no impact on, uhhh, the futures market!

What a fraud Mitch McConnell is, when it comes to the ruinous gasoline price hikes that have hit consumers across Kentucky, and America.

Senate Democrats tried to curb the rampant speculation that experts say is part of the reason gas prices are so high. They were blocked by Mr. McConnell and his GOP followers.

"I'm with the guy at the pump," Mr. McConnell claimed.

That's not true. He's with the oil guy in the White House.

He even tried to blame his 2008 Democratic opponent, Bruce Lunsford, for the gasoline price hike, which of course is a national phenomenon. How desperate is that?

Kentuckians know full well that gas has gone up everywhere, for many reasons, including the energy appetite of quickly developing nations like India and China, a shortage of new refinery capacity, instability in oil-producing countries and years of chaos that kept Iraq's oil production stuck below prewar levels.

Mitch McConnell and his White House friends have done little or nothing about other major causes, like our national refusal to swear off the oil economy and to develop alternative energy sources. They have done little to effectively move Detroit toward building fuel efficient vehicles and getting out front on hybrids.

Last week there was a chance to do something about the oil speculators, who have played the situation and made it worse. But Mitch McConnell said no.

He and the oil industry crowd around George W. Bush propose that we drill our way to lower prices by opening up fragile areas. But such help would be years in coming and have little impact.

There is a critical domestic issue, and the Senate had a chance to start doing something about it, by handcuffing the speculators who have milked this crisis for all it's worth -- to them. But Mitch McConnell and his crowd said no.