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If politicians are trying to curb the kind of speculation that create bubbles or "bandwagon" speculation I'm all for it but it has to be done properly so the other kinds.
The speculation that goes long when there are bad news about future production or short in anticipation on a future decline are good and a consequence of what we want from a free market.
It definitely should be outlawed. The speculation has driven prices up to completely unjustified bubble prices twice in the last 4 years, and we are ramping up to another one now. This is more than just costing kids more to go cruising main street on Friday nights, this messes with our entire economy, and can take a weak economy and send it back into recession, or take a growing economy and slow it down to a stall. There is no reason to allow people to do that just for their own personal gains. In fact from what I understand, this was not even an option until the year 2000 or 2001- and it's been ever since that time that we have seen these odd ups and downs.
There was zero valid reason for the run up to $4.00 gas in 2008, nor was there last year when it got up just above that again. And now it's doing that again, with "experts" predicting $5.00 gas by memorial day, with no true explanation of why. Some people talk about Iran- well until something actually happens there causing a drastic drop in supply, why should people be able to jack up the prices? Consumption is still down, production is still high, there is no reason right now today for the huge spikes we are seeing. The gas station down the street from me was $3.49 two weeks ago. It was up to $3.69 by the beginning of this week, and then in the last 3 days it has jumped up to $3.97. There is no way that the actual costs of that oil/gas has jumped that much in that amount of time, this needs to be regulated. We need to go back to the times when people who bought oil futures on the market be the ones who actually take delivery of that oil. Absolutely no reason to let some guy in a highrise office buy and sell these futures for profit if he has no direct use for that oil/gas.
Here in the US....possible....what about the rest of the world....I think not.
So, you outlaw it in the USA, well, all of those jobs and the wealth that goes along with it......bye bye...............but no worries, the speculators will find a different home.
And that little move, outlawing speculation in The US Of Amerit**d......will have little if any effect on gas/oil prices.
How come when people talk about oil speculation they focus on the times it forces prices up, and not when it forced prices down?
Because people don't complain when it goes down. It really just comes down to personal greed. Gas is needed, and folks don't want the price of needed things to go up, unless they benefit. Everyone here who is complaining about speculators likely don't own much in terms of oil stocks. If they did, and the price of their stocks went up, they wouldn't complain. It is like someone who demands affordable housing, then as soon as they have their cheaper home, with a very low mortgage rate, they demand housing prices skyrocket so they can sell decades down the road and pocket a huge wad of cash and move somewhere cheaper to retire or start over.
Instead of cutting back on boozing, smoking, eating out, cutting the cable TV package, buying the $400 HDTV instead of the $1,000 HDTV, people will just complain for the government to "DO SOMETHING!!" They need to change their complaints to saying speculators are harming children. That uses seems to bring about massive regulation "FOR THE CHILDREN!!"
I read somewhere it also has to do with the gas refineries. They are cutting production and shutting down in many areas due to their high cost of oil..This could put a squeeze on supply.
Also did you ever notice that people make a ton of money in the oil and gas business? Part of the reason are prices are so high.
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