I have been absolutely wrong on oil since $100/barrel. I agree with you that buying an oil futures contract is not worth the risk unless you have lots of money to lose, or you can afford to lose all your capital and pay-up on any deficit from a huge swing (futures contracts have to settle up daily).
USO is the way to go. If I were you, I'd set a trailing stop of about 10%. This way you can sit back and let it fluctuate, but if it dives you'll protect the majority of your gain.
There really does not appear to make any stop oil from going up. That being said, I'm just naturally scared of the oil market when it is this high. In February or March, I bought shares in UGA (United State Gasoline Fund) that tracks RBOB, and its made me an easy 19%. RBOB typically lags oil, but I was purchasing the fund based on the fact it was brand new, and the volume has slowly grown as people have watched the price of gas spiral.
One camp will tell you not to fight the trend and go long, the other will say that things can't go straight-up and that buying when something gets parabolic is a bad idea.
With oil, put a trailing stop on your position and keep your blood pressure down.
I hope you're joking. The problems with the economy have nothing to do with traders or speculation. The government is the cause here. More regulation, banning, etc, would only compound the problem.
