Americans have spent an extra $24 billion on gas in just two months thanks to rising prices from Trump's Iran war

[LiberalArkie]

5. Interesting that OPEC really does not control our oil prices

Oil prices have been largely determined by commodity traders and global benchmark markets for about 40 years — since the launch of WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in March 1983 CME Group

Before that, oil pricing was dominated by producer-controlled regimes, especially under OPEC, where prices were set by oil-exporting nations rather than by market forces CME Group. The 1970s saw the emergence of spot markets, but these were still influenced heavily by producers.

The 1983 WTI futures contract marked a shift from producer-controlled pricing to free-market price discovery. It created a transparent, liquid derivatives market where global participants could hedge risk, speculate, and set prices based on supply, demand, and market sentiment rather than solely on OPEC decisions CME Group+1.