Perhaps instead of banning seculation Ms Pelosi should pass a law that creates a replacement for gasoline.

No.

Never assume anybody is stupid. Assume they know, or think they know, what is good for them, and that they try to do it. Disregard what they say they are doing, or why. Look at what they actually do.

Then, most important, look, look at the incentives they face and see how that shapes their actions.

Diane Feinstein is an experienced politician. There is no reason to think she is stupid. She may be getting correspondence from constituents, or otherwise be aware of public unhappiness on these issues, or simply have a good intuition about it, or be aware of the historical record, or all of the above. She is getting out in front of where she sense the voters are going, or are willing to go, or are likely to go. That is responding to the incentives she faces. Not stupid. It may not be “leadership”, or what I would like her to do, but it is not “stupid”.

She does not get elected by a committee of economics professors, after all.

By speculators I assume she means people buying and selling future contracts based on the belief that the price of oil will rise. I find it frightening that someone of Feinstein’s station doesn’t have an understanding of how commodity markets work.

I think this is good example of people being impelled by their ideology instead of an understanding of the systems they criticize. Feinstein is just cruising on autopilot.