by 123RF
As you read this piece lobbyistz are sending large amounts of money to stifle any regulatory attempt to curb the gas speculation market.
In 1936 the Commodity Exchange Act was passed to kept the price of oil stable through government regulation and policing, which worked very well, thank you. But again the lobbyists got their way, just like the repealing of the Glass/ Steagle act, the banking industry pushed for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA), which brought us deregulation of commodity markets.
A commissioner with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Bart Chilton, said that as much as $14 of the cost of every tank of gas you buy is the result of oil speculators driving the price up for their own gain. That comes out to a $750 a year tax on all drivers, with the money going to Wall Street banksters. Another view that supports this comes from the CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing saying, "If you were to use a pure economic approach . . . It's pretty hard to judge, but it would be, when we look at it, it's gonna be somewhere in the $60 to $70(per barrel) range," the current price of oil is about $100 per barrel. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates such activity, says that the number of speculative bets on oil are is at an all time high.
This kind of market manipulation isn't just in the gasoline and oil markets, but also the natural gas industry, As far back as 2005 Bryan McCanless of the National Business Association writes, Beginning in 2000, oil and natural gas companies have exploited energy deregulation to engage in one of the largest consumer rip-offs in history. Despite only moderately rising demand, natural gas prices increased 245 percent from January 1999 to January 2001. This is clear manipulation of the market, whereby the energy industry refuses to let the market work in favor of consumers.
The pattern is clear, deregulate the industry, write your own rules, profit at the expense of the American people, this pattern has repeated itself in every industry, without exception. For example the Bank of America has been downgraded by Moody's credit agency, so to defuse possible losses from bankruptcy,they have moved 57 trillion, that's "trillion" of its high risk investment from its financial side to the retail side, which is insurance by the FDIC. In doing so, if they the bank fail, the interested parties would take any assets remaining, leaving the Bank of America unable to cover the FDIC savings accounts, and again the American people will have to bail out the American people. This would let the Bank America off the hook for billions, raking in huge profits.
Not all regulations are created equal, some are a dumb as a box of rocks, without the box, but some work. Regulations like the glass/Steagle act, and the Commodity Exchange Act have served us well to keep our economy on track and and everyone profited, not just the special interests.
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