We're all just tools

During this past summer, gas cost $4 a gallon. We were told to get use to this, because it was the new normal. Demand was up, with countries like China and India using a record amount of fuel. There was too much instability in the Middle East areas where oil is located. And now it’s six months later and gas costs $2 a gallon.

People claim that the market is run by supply and demand. But does anyone really believe that demand was twice as high before? What’s really at the heart of the matter is oil futures, and how this creates an unstable market. If a group of influential individuals (or more likely companies) decide to buy or sell futures in a certain way, everyone else, out of fear of short-term losses, buys and sells in the same way. Even worse, it is probably the case that these companies can use this influence to their advantage. They can artificially raise they price, and make money off of it.

This is bad in itself, but at least this is just oil. What if we started allowing people to buy and sell water futures the same way they do for oil now. Capitalists would argue that this is only fair in a free market. Could there be a day when you go to the supermarket, and water is suddenly $4 a galloon? That’s when things might really get scary.