whatever congress tries to do about speculation will not help. there's little if any evidence that speculation is causing the rise. uncertainty is causing the volatility - if anything, speculation adds to the liquidity in the market. for every "speculator" who "bets" on a price rise, there's someone (a "speculator," investor or oil producer) who "bets" the other side of the contract. it takes two to tango - the finger pointing at the speculators is way overblown.

congress can make an immediate impact by doing the following:

1. tear down the capital controls on foreign ownership of US airlines. fully opening up our domestic airline industry to foreign investment will immediately benefit the industry.

congress can make a positive and relatively short-run impact by doing the following:

2. review and revise permitting for petroleum refining operations - we haven't had a new refinery built here in decades; thus, we pay the transporation costs to import a great deal of our refined/distilled products - and expectations that these costs will rise exacerbate the crack spreads.

3. open up domestic energy production. this includes allowing drilling as well as tearing down barriers to nuke production.

congress can make a long run impact by doing the following:

4. support a foreign policy that favors freedom over tyranny. free nations simply don't (and have never) threatened one another with embargoes and supply shocks. while promoting freedom will result in accelerated world economic growth, thus increasing energy demand, free nations will also ensure a more stable supply.