HALT ILLEGAL SPECULATION - IN THE ENERGY FUTURES MARKET!
'Plug Speculators’ Loophole
by Randy Shannon
06/11/2008
Can the driving public do anything about high oil and gas prices? The answer is yes.
But it may be difficult for some people to do. They would have to call U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire and demand that he do something he doesn’t want to do. Let me explain.
The cause of the present spike in the long-term uptrend of energy prices is the illegal speculation in the energy futures market by Wall Street banks. These speculators are legally barred from trading commodities.
However, they bypass the law by depositing funds in banks that are authorized to buy futures. This loophole can be plugged in one day if Congress had the will to confront these powerful banks.
Only one half percent of oil futures contracts take delivery. The other 99.5 percent are speculative purchases of future oil contracts. The speculators are required to put up $7 to control a $130 barrel of oil. Meanwhile, the driving public is paying full price.
Congress can change this by raising the margin requirement, currently only 5 percent, to 25 percent or even 50 percent.
The result of these two acts would result in an immediate and substantial drop in energy prices. This will take an informed public uproar that forces Altmire to go to the floor and speak and act to make this happen.
Congress would rather haul oil executives before a panel to be excoriated for their profits than to actually confront the powerful banking interests that are stealing billions from the public by illegally manipulating prices.
R Shannon
Links to more articles and comments on how speculators are affecting energy prices
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166038,00.html
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8878
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/14/business/21550143&sec=business
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/14/business/21550143&sec=business
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/5837165.html
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=226584
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/05/quantifying-commodities-speculation.html
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