The ongoing anger against commodity speculation in general, and oil speculation in particular, gave rise to the Obama administration’s drive to limit such overinvestment in 2012. At that time, The New York Times reported that speculators were responsible for as much as 40% of the present price of oil. However, little has been done to reform the way oil is traded, and considering that roughly 80% of all oil contracts are still bought and sold by speculators, it seems that little political will exists to reform the process.
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The first highway project
The Federal Aid Road Act, America’s first highway-construction legislation, was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on July 11, 1916. The Act appropriated roughly $75 million in federal funds for highway-building, and much of it would be used to improve “post” roads, the roads used by mail carriers. This built on a failed earlier post-road improvement project and would lead to the establishment of state highway agencies staffed with dedicated engineers to adequately disburse the funds. Unfortunately, America’s entry into World War I interrupted the development of the nation’s highways, and by the time the troops returned home, very little had been paved.
The Act’s inadequacy was laid bare by a disastrous transcontinental military convoy trip made in 1919. The trip, attended by future President Dwight Eisenhower, helped spur the Federal Highway Act of 1921. This early effort would lay the groundwork for Eisenhower’s landmark Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which finally developed the vast national road infrastructure that has turned America into a nation of suburbs and shopping malls.
Nasdaq rising
The Nasdaq continued its climb up Dot-Com Hill on July 11, 1997, and on that day the tech-heavy index finished above 1,500 points for the first time. It had been only two years since the Nasdaq had broken the four-digit barrier for the first time, and it had taken roughly four years to double from 750 points. In the same four years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had actually outperformed the Nasdaq, rising from about 3,500 points to nearly 8,000 — a milestone the Nasdaq upstaged with its July 11 surge.
However, the next three years would undeniably belong to the Nasdaq. By the time it hit 5,000 points in early 2000, its 233% growth from mid-1997 had left the Dow in the dust. The Dow’s ultimate dot-com peak, at just more than 11,700 points, was only good enough for a 48% gain over its close on the Nasdaq’s first 1,500-point day.
The article The Oil Bubble Peaks originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.
Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more insight into markets, history, and technology.The Motley Fool recommends Chevron and Goldman Sachs.
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