- Small investors holding retirement accounts should boycott investment firms and mutual funds that tout or place any of their funds in spot market futures. You do not gain by paying outrageous gas prices now only to be paid back in cheaper dollars later.
- Consumer class-action lawsuits, perhaps invoking RICO should be filed against oil producers and investment firms, to recover illicit profits and return them to consumers. Governmental bodies who received windfall taxes should also be named and forced to return the taxes. With a case like this, it won’t be necessary to shop the case out to the corrupt the corrupt bench in Madison County, Illinois.
- Speculation must not be permitted in mission-critical markets. Congress must enact Federal legislation limiting spot-market trading in oil and utilities to companies that directly produce, refine, or sell oil.
- Congressional hearings must be had to interview executives in both industries and discover the extent of monopolistic collaboration.
- If information discovered in Congressional hearings and class-action suits warrants, criminal charges should be filed against executives in both industries who have knowingly collaborated to gouge the American consumer.
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David R. Usher is Senior Policy Analyst for the True Equality Network and President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, Missouri Coalition
[2] National Public Radio, “Analyst: Blame Investors for High Gas Prices”, August 24, 2006; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5705263
[3] National Public Radio, “Analyst: Blame Investors for High Gas Prices”, August 24, 2006; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5705263
[4] International Monetary Fund, “The Structure of the Oil Market and Causes of High Prices”, September 21, 2005; http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/092105o.htm
[5] International Monetary Fund, “The Structure of the Oil Market and Causes of High Prices”, September 21, 2005; http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/092105o.htm
[6] International Monetary Fund, “The Structure of the Oil Market and Causes of High Prices”, September 21, 2005; http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/092105o.htm
[7] International Monetary Fund, “The Structure of the Oil Market and Causes of High Prices”, September 21, 2005; http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/092105o.htm
[8] U.S. Energy Information Agency, “International Petroleum (Oil) Consumption”, June 5, 2006; http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/table12.xls, line 248.
[9] U.S. Energy Information Agency “International Petroleum (Oil) Consumption”, June 5, 2006; http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/table12.xls, line 19.
[10] U.S. Energy Information Agency, “World Crude Oil Production (Including Lease Condensate), Most Recent Annual Estimates, 1980-2006”; May 25, 2007, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/RecentCrudeOilProductionBarrelsperDay.xls, line 248.
[11] U.S. Energy Information Agency, “World Crude Oil Production (Including Lease Condensate), Most Recent Annual Estimates, 1980-2006”; May 25, 2007, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/RecentCrudeOilProductionBarrelsperDay.xls, line 15.
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