Crude Commodities

When politics don't go as planned,
Commodities get out of hand,
As markets pay heed
To the fear and the greed,
Instead of supply and demand.    

The gyrations in the price of oil that have accompanied the uprising in Libya - a country with only 2% of global oil reserves - once again highlight the fact that markets are often more focused on the fear of adverse consequences (and the greed for what scarcity could do to prices) than actual changes in supply.