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Reacting to the violent swings in oil prices in recent months, federal regulators announced on Tuesday that they were considering new restrictions on “speculative” traders in markets for oil, natural gas and other energy products. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/bu...ml?_r=1&ref=us
lol..restrictions on speculation when regulations were ignored ?
How dumb do they think American's are ?
There are plenty of checks and balances. That they ignored them or modified them in favor of "the free market" and "self regulation" should just be brushed under the rug.
Ah heck..just give everyone in America a government job to oversee or work on the regulatory committees.
Good idea. Close the Enron Loophole. Regulate electronic markets. Restrict trading in poorly regulated offshore markets. A year ago, you were paying $4.05 a gallon in signfiicant part because of the folks at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and a gaggle of unregulated hedge funds. That potential for that kind of crap needs to be eliminated.
Good idea. Close the Enron Loophole. Regulate electronic markets. Restrict trading in poorly regulated offshore markets. A year ago, you were paying $4.05 a gallon in signfiicant part because of the folks at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and a gaggle of unregulated hedge funds. That potential for that kind of crap needs to be eliminated.
i'm probably going against the conservative grain on this one, but i agree with you. oil is a strategically vital commodity that should not be subjected to the whims of speculators.
Good idea. Close the Enron Loophole. Regulate electronic markets. Restrict trading in poorly regulated offshore markets. A year ago, you were paying $4.05 a gallon in signfiicant part because of the folks at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and a gaggle of unregulated hedge funds. That potential for that kind of crap needs to be eliminated.
I can agree with that, although i'll admit that I need to do a little more studying on the subject.
Last edited by AeroGuyDC; 07-08-2009 at 08:22 AM..
Unlike wheat and corn, which are impacted by weather and droughts, oil is a stable commodity. When oil prices spike 100%, for no good reason at all, maybe it is time to slow the rate at which prices can change, or make the speculators put more cash up front, and take on more of the risk. Or maybe get banks and hedge funds out of the commodity exchange?
thats my two cents worth, but I'm pretty ignorant on all this type of stuff.
I don't really know enough about oil markets to have a good assessment of this and would like to hear from some that know more about it. I found Donald Trump's comments interesting, and relevant as a response to the OP, but again, I'm not the best person to evaluate the merits of either position.
"Mr. Trump answered “OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is raising oil prices and absolutely draining and sucking the blood out of the country. There’s no reason for $70 oil.”
"He explained “They like to blame it on speculators. Speculators are peanuts compared to the power that OPEC has.” "
"Mr. Trump was clear about the danger this nation currently faces. “OPEC has to be destroyed in an economic sense...It really is an illegal situation…I know people involved with OPEC. They laugh at the stupidity of our country. They laugh at the stupidity of our politicians.” "
"Mr. Trump had this to say “We’ve been taken for years and nobody does anything about it, and you know why, because they’ve hired every lobbyist in Washington. You don’t even hear this other than from me and a couple of people…then I watch one of the oil ministers the other day say, and laughing to himself, ‘Oh yes, it’s the speculators.’”
Yup. It seems a pretty good bet that there's been a lot of market manipulation going on. A free market ideal is fine, but the fact is, market manipulation is NOT indicative of a free market. It's a sign that something is seriously wrong when a relatively small group of people are able to manipulate a commodity that sort of degree to their advantage and everyone elses' disadvantage.
I voted 'no' really on the principle the when the government intervenes in the market, as a generality things get messed up. I would have voted "I don't know" if "I don't care" wasn't attached to it; like others said, I'm not fully educated on how unregulated hedge funds work.
Like Rggr pointed out Trump saying though, I do know OPEC is borderline gangsters and we need to look ahead to get out from under the petro fist. It is that or when things get tough we have to accept that to protect our own interests it may be necessary to go just take it, since we trade it as a free market commodity, when it is about as essential to us right now as air.
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