Oil is tied into speculation. Prices rise and fall due to people shooting missles and saying things before congress.

Did oil supply increase when the Fed Chairman said US Consumers couldn't afford gas anymore? Nope. Yet it dropped the largest it ever has in a long time.

I love it when amateur economist--AKA Cramer--think that it's all about supply and demand. That is one of the most overused ideas to explain away an issue that one cannot get their mind around! There are a multitude of factors that play in the market place other than supply and demand, especiallly when people can be scared into acting a certain way. Americans need a good dose of Churchill--"All we have to fear is fear intself"!

There is not a single cause. Anyone who is paying attention can see. Supply & demand? - Lets look - how much more demand is there this year than last? Are there supply shortages anywhere? Demand is probably not the entire cause, a part but in the end, not significant. While the change in damand v price is not linear, it is not logarithmic. So dollar value not the problem, supply not the problem, what is left? Commodity trading. Since the congress allowed oil future trading on the open market, the price has spiked.

Really, how hard was that to figure out?

Hey Jim;
This may be the worst piece of rambling misdirection that you have issued to date, in my layman's opinion.

OF COURSE supply and demand play a part in our energy prices. However, If you fail to properly quantify the political manipulations which are draining value from the public sector and which drive our costs for everything from milk to gasoline, then you are either completely blind to the forces which control our planet or you're an even bigger and uglier part of the destructive process than I originally thought.

Which is it Jim?

I trust Jim on his points and respect his statements. Afterall, he is at this daily while the rest of us are not.... but disagree on his directive approach. Just want to add that the disconnect MAY have been the cause of the drop when investors realized the dollar strength was not changing. There is no ONE reason for the "nonsense" on oil prices. There are many and each of them need to be addressed. It is the alignment of ALL factors causing this. And yes....he is right.....the rules must be enforced everywhere, not just in the US. Time to put the foreign investors on notice.

If every vehicle driven in America saved a hal gallon of fuel a week the price of fuel would go down.

300 million vehicles or more saving 150 million gallons a week every week on journeys not needed or using better driving techniks not accelerating and braking hard and the cost of fuel would go down so woud oil and the stock market would go up so by saving fuel your stocks go up.

All of you are missing Cramer's point that the various assertions that are being made as to what impacts prices needs to be backed up by actual data. If you don't have the numbers to prove it, then you're just talking out your @ss.

I also happen to be an amateur economist, and I agree with Mr. Cramer 100% on this one. It's always about supply and demand. What wasn't mentioned is the dollar is also affected by supply and demand. We have seen the supply of the dollars increase while demand for it has decrease. If we flood the world with dollars, do we really expect it to retain it's purchasing power? Eventually the markets realize what's going on and begin to reject the dollar.

First and most important step is to restore the Constitutional Republic here in the USA. How? Take this pledge... I will NEVER vote for any Republican OR any Democrat for ANY office EVER again!