Costly oil could mean recession — Soros

High oil prices are driving the U.S. economy into a recession, George Soros, the famous fund manager and commodities investor, told members of the Senate Commerce Committee in testimony Tuesday.

The committee received testimony from a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) official, a consumer rights activist, Soros and others in an attempt to find out if oil prices are being manipulated by speculators. . . .

"We're paying, some believe, as high as a 50% premium to the pockets of speculators that are operating in markets that are completely unpoliced," said Michael Greenburger, a University of Maryland professor and former CFTC official.

Mark Cooper, director of research at consumer rights organization Consumer Federation of America, said $40 of oil's price is "baloney" and can be chalked up to speculation.