Reply #24: The price of crude oil is not down over the long haul

[Maven]

Maybe it's ebbed a little in the last few months, but it's over three times higher than what it was 8 years ago:

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/CO/M

That's not to say there isn't room for fiddling with the prices elsewhere in the supply chain--and I wouldn't be surprised if said fiddling were politically motivated--but that's not the big picture.