I wasn't planning to post again on crude oil prices, but I came across this post explaining clearly how futures traders can drive--and probably are driving--up commodity prices. The post quotes liberally from Congressional testimony of a hedge fund manager who is not currently trading in commodities. There are some eye-popping charts and real insights in 19 pages of testimony.
The Oil Drum is a blog dedicated to all things petroleum and has some good information and analysis, including this discussion around George Soros' view that markets are characterized by "reflexivity," not equilibrium. Apparently, the dominant view at The Oil Drum is "peak oil" is here--i.e., we're running out. But the linked post points out that running out and speculative bubbles are not mutually exclusive explanations for what we see.