As the upcoming presidential election approaches, it seems to coincide with forecasts of increases in the already high cost of gasoline.  There are indications that Americans are starting to pay attention to the reasons why the cost has gone sky high again, especially at a time when the slowly improving economy is so fragile.  Folks are getting wise to the fact that supply and demand seem to have very little to do with the soaring prices at the pump, that indeed, it is Wall Street speculators driving up the price of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel by buying and selling oil with no intention of ever using it.  And these same speculators don’t want anyone to stop the flow of their obscenely record breaking profits, by buying and selling future contracts in an unregulated market over the last decade.  That explains the motivated crop of millionaires currently running for office, trying to convince Americans that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a jobs killer.  Funny thing to say, when so many people are choosing between buying food and fueling up their cars so they can get to work!  Maybe they mean the jobs of all the money managers from hedge funds, pension funds and other large private interests have been pouring money into NYMEX crude contracts, are in jeopardy (You know, the same paragons of virtue that made billions on the collapse of the sub-prime crisis a few years ago).  In reality, parts of Dodd-Frank will empower the CTFC, and perhaps help get the gas prices down, but only if President Obama has his way, and provided that we, as conscientious Americans, step up the pressure to make it so.  The corporate controlled GOP would like to frighten us into forgetting that Wall Street has made astounding profits from crude oil futures, billions of dollars more raked in with each passing year.  Ask yourself, what kind of business people profit at the expense of the Average American’s ability to feed their families? The super slow growth of the economy in 2011 can also be linked to the high cost of fuel, we can all agree on that.  Since when is price gouging a respectable and legal way to make money?  Governments of some countries protect their citizens from the predation of speculators of all kinds, and so should ours.  It is time American consumers get some relief from this latest example of unrelenting greed, by those who have more wealth than they can ever spend.