On July 11, oil was $147 a barrel. Now, a little more than four months later, it's roughly a third of that. An OPEC emergency meeting to cut production and raise the price has had little effect.
Oil increased dramatically as global demand increased — as is now apparent, driven by an economy resting too much on a highly-leveraged financial system. With financial leveraging unwinding, the economy has fallen and so too the demand and price for oil.
Bill O'Reilly pompously intoned on his program that it was the evil speculators who were responsible--despite booking knowledgeable guests who tried to explain the concept of supply and demand over his constant interruptions.
We don't hear much from him these days. If speculation was a problem then, why is it not a problem now? If speculators were responsible for the price rise, why are they not liable for the price decline? The blowhard has fallen silent on the speculator theme.
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