There's no question about it: A new breed of speculator is pouring money into the oil market. What's less certain is whether this new money is responsible for driving up prices or essential to a healthy market.

Many blame record prices on Wall Street investors new to the oil market, saying they're bidding up gas prices to artificially high levels - and soaking drivers.

As oil nears $130 a barrel, some say $10 to $70 of that price is due to Wall Street speculation.

The speculation economy only serves the stockholders and the corporate business leaders, not the working middle class, who's actually keeping this entire society going. It's insane to let this continue, especially since it essentially puts a price tag on all our planetary resources, effectively draining them before they peak at high speculation prices and then become rare commodities for a rich elite. Who will afford regular gas in 50 years? We need more long-term planning and better values than simply making profits off of everything we see.