Oil prices took one of their steepest falls all year yesterday, despite the fact that no one opened any new offshore oil platforms, dug into the Alaskan National Wildllife Refuge, or repealed the United States' gas tax. Yet all told, crude oil prices fell nearly five dollars a barrel.

So what caused this miraculous drop? China announcing it would raise domestic prices of diesel fuel and gasoline by nearly 20 percent. Imagine that: a solution based on controlling consumption leading to a worldwide price drop.  The largest country in on Earth implements a strategy that will lead to less oil consumption, and suddenly, investors don’t think crude oil futures make such a great investment any more.

Of course, there’s also the ancillary benefit that less carbon dioxide will be spewed out into the environment as a result of the decision.  Just imagine what sort of carbon cuts could be made it the world’s largest creator of those emissions enacted such a plan, too.