“It would be tempting to criticize those who unfairly blame President Obama for rising gas prices, except that candidate Barack Obama unfairly blamed President Bush for rising gas prices in 2008, as his campaign portrayed Mr. Bush and John McCain as conjoined twins on the economy.”

“Ironically, Mitt Romney offered the best take on the relationship between the White House and the gas station when he told CNBC, ‘I think people recognize that the president can’t precisely set the price at the pump.’ He later recovered campaign form, blaming Mr. Obama for the fact that gas prices are up roughly 55 cents since the start of the year.”

…

“So while there’s some evidence to support higher gas prices since Jan. 1, there’s not enough evidence to support prices this high. Which brings us to the bipartisan failure of Congress to control speculation by investors who have no intention of actually taking delivery of the oil. Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets Inc., says the oil market works best when 30 percent of the business is investment trades and 70 percent is commercial trades, such as those by power companies and airlines. Instead, the market is now 70 percent investment speculators.”

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Read full Palm Beach Post article here.