OPEC and Friends Want Oil Prices to Behave Like a Hot Air Balloon, Not A Bubble
Here is a line of thinking that I have heard several times recently - oil prices have increased so rapidly recently that the market has become overheated and will pop like a bubble. Comparisons to Dutch tulips, Dot Com stocks, and housing prices abound on TV, on the radio, on the web, and around water coolers. 
There is one major difference that causes me some grave concern - oil, unlike all of those other investment manias that exploded, is a commodity with visible, experienced hands on the controls.
The reason that I am concerned is that I believe that high oil prices are hurting nearly everyone and the pain will increase as time goes on. The hands on the controls, however, are feeling no pain.
The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an internationally recognized cartel established in September, 1960 that holds well publicized meetings on a regular basis to discuss production allocations that are specifically designed to maintain a market price that members agree best meets their internal and external needs. Many of the country representatives to that meeting have spent lengthy careers thinking deeply about oil prices and how best to manage them to benefit the people who send them to the meetings and pay their generous salaries.
