The Oil Drum

And, there is always behind the scenes political pressures. Here is pure speculation - someone high up in the Administration sits down with Goldman Sachs and says: You know oil prices are at record highs and it is going to hurt the economy. We do not believe that it is being caused by speculators (like GS and its clients) but the vast majority of the public does. You guys have made billions with your call for higher prices. Now we are being flooded by proposals from the democrats to increase the tax on dividends, increase the tax on capital gains, increase the tax on your hedge fund profits - essentially all of your clients. If the public believes that you are being enriched at their expense everytime they fill up their tanks, I do not see how we can hold these tax proposals off. So, you might want to consider cooling the $100 barrel oil rhetoric.