Political Animal: $50/BARREL OIL....

Yesterday Matt Yglesias mused out loud about high oil prices:

I understand clearly why individual purchasers are displeased to see their gas bills high (and don't get me started about the heating oil this past winter) but in broader economic terms it's hard to see the looming crisis here....Are these high prices really something that should be an independent source of economic concern? I don't see it.

This is worth a bit of countermusing, I think. The problem here is not high oil prices per se, it's the reason behind the high oil prices.