Wild how every oil spike gets sold as some natural force when so much of it is traders gaming fear and firms protecting margins. Yes, geopolitical risk matters. But the whiplash says a lot of this market is just finance sloshing around on top of a thing everyone still needs to live. And then regular people get hit with higher gas, pricier food, bigger delivery costs, while oil giants act like they're innocent bystanders. If we don't want every regional crisis to become a cost-of-living shock, we need less dependence on oil, not more drilling dressed up as security.