Barack Obama proposed to have the government regulate energy markets. His argument is that the high price of oil is due to speculators.

While this would be “change,” it would be change of the wrong kind.

Obama should focus on basic economics: supply and demand. As hedge fund manager T. Boone Pickens has pointed out:

Speculators have nothing to do with the price of oil. There’s 85 million barrels and the demand is greater than 85. So, supply and demand are in very critical balance.

A good idea would be to tap into oil in the United States. While this is by no means a short term cure, it would provide supply to the Americans in the long term, until some alternative means of transportation is developed.