Is Wall Street the Cause, the Effect, or the Method?

I’ve been doing some thinking lately – and even conducting a bit of research – on the causes of rising gas prices, and the finger of suspicion can point elsewhere besides the oil companies (not that they don’t bear their share of guilt and greed).

As far as the rising prices by themselves are concerned, we only have to look to the Wall Street darlings if we want to express our “gratitude”. As long as crude oil is a commodity that can be bought, sold, traded, and speculated upon, we consumers are up the proverbial creek without a paddle, as it were.

The irony is it appears that, even right now, there is no apparent shortage of world gasoline supplies (which one normally assumes is a reason that prices might rise), though overall worldwide demand is slowly increasing. So why are prices going up so drastically?

A lot of the answer appears to be that the perceived anticipated future demand on the world’s oil supply by (who else?) Wall Street speculators is contributing mightily to today’s inflated prices at the pump.

If you want to really depress yourself, consider as well what Wall Street has effected on the Real Estate market. All was apparently working just fine, thank you, until Wall Street "commodified" loans into “investment packages” that, again, could be bought, sold, traded, and speculated upon. The result? A “ten-pin” knock-down effect when interest rates rose and demand decreased, that has flattened the industry.

Now guess where the vast majority of Americans have placed their investments (and trust for their very future)? You got it: Wall Street.

Are we crazy? Based on Wall Street's handling of oil and real estate, does anyone but me see the potential for a gigantic financial black hole here?

I guess the moral to this story, if there is one, is to think through very carefully where you are placing your assets/money if you expect to preserve your retirement accumulations and/or have something for the future. I must say that I’m admittedly getting a little skiddish about several sectors in the stock market, for the short term at least, if not for some time. Prudence might be a good watchword in this regard.