Energy guru Dave Gonigam says speculators were wrongly used as a scapegoat for soaring crude oil prices in the first half of the year. But he thinks they are playing a big role in the current slump, as hedge funds liquidate their commodity assets rapidly. Dave says the supply and demand fundamentals of oil are unchanged. That is why he is still bullish crude in the long term.

This from The Daily Reckoning’s Desidooru Saloon blog:

Remember when speculators were getting blamed for high oil prices?  Remember how I thought it was bogus?  Now oil is down more than 50% from its summer highs.  And this time, I think it’s safe to say speculators have a hand in it.

It looks as if the last time I wrote about the greedy-speculator meme was July 7.  Those were the days, huh?  Those of us sympathetic to the Peak Oil crowd were