Fishing in Troubled Waters

I received a phone call from a stranger purportedly based in China, trying to interest me into investing in fuel oil futures.

He claims that fuel oil prices in the USA is bound to rise given the higher and bigger demand for winter heating because of the anticipated colder winter, low stock levels and higher crude oil prices.

I protested to him that with people like him speculating in the fuel oil futures and with no viable alternatives in sight, fuel oil prices will have no other way but to go up, unless of course the US government releases it stockpile to drive down market prices.

Heating oil to keep alive in the winters in countries is a necessity. It is like water in desert climates. Withholding or profiteering in basic commodities to can mean life or death to people is the greatest crime anyone can commit.

If I make money at the expense of someone else suffering, is this humane?

What is the root objection to usury, precisely because it enslaves the poor to poverty when to the contrary, we ought to help the poor to feed, clothe and keep themselves warm when they are not able to.

If fuel oil prices become unaffordable to many in the cold countries, be prepared to see a rise in the number of deaths and all thanks to the hike in oil prices exacerbated by speculators in commodities.

We all know that fossil fuel is not sustainable but the harsh reality that in the short run there is no real alternatives to it but to gain at someone else losses is to me, adding another misery on suffering people.