The clamor over whether “speculators” are driving oil’s parabolic run-up has become almost deafening, with the number of Congressional hearings on the subject reaching 40 this week and the price of oil dominating the nightly news. For every market analyst making the case for a speculative frenzy, the media have found an industry expert to argue that high oil prices are justified by the underlying supply–demand imbalance and weak dollar. If this sounds familiar, it might be because the scenario looked quite similar when the housing bubble came to a head.