Chapter 4: Blowout - The Commodities Bubble Summary and Analysis

In 2008, 24-year-old Priscilla Carillo of San Bernardino, CA, quit school because she suddenly couldn't afford the gas that it took for the daily trip. She got a job but lost in soon after and was living in her car. In Reading, PA, Robert Lukens who ran the Lukens Construction Company was being hit with gas expenses that were suddenly doubling. Sam Serenda couldn't afford the gas it took to drive to his summer calc class in San Francisco and had to withdraw. The news media tried to attribute it to demand but there were no long lines of people waiting to fill up. John McCain blamed it on socialists like Barack Obama who were against domestic drilling. Obama blamed greedy oil companies and on American's reluctance to conserve energy. Both candidates...