There is a reason that gas prices are rising even though the price of extracting oil has not changed and we can blame congress. With the deregulation of the financial markets, started by Billy Clinton and George W. prices of oil have skyrocketed like they did in 2008.
Unless congress keeps a leash on the speculators we will see the price of gas at historic levels before summers end. Secretary Geithenr wants to put a regulatory loophole into the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill that would allow hedge funds along with institutional investors to control unlimited quantities of oil contracts. They can manipulate the price and never even take possession of a single gallon of gas. Gary Gensler, Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is against this loophole.
Congress must curb the influences of big traders in the markets for crude, gasoline, heating oil and natural gas. The speculative bubble in oil prices has detrimental consequences for the real economy. The CFTC must aggressively limit the number of contracts a single firm can hold.
Wall Street is opposed to this and they have lobbied and won with two decades of market deregulation. Congress, both Democrats and Republicans both have catered to the needs of financial speculators rather than bona-fide consumers.
There is plenty of evidence of excessive speculation in the commodities market yet congress still wants to weaken the Dodd-Frank legislation that would limit the quantities of oil contracts one company could hold. Congress should do what it is supposed to do which is to protect legitimate markets and consumers from the very speculators who brought the country to its knees with the financial crisis of 2008.
Undo influence of corporate lobbyists in getting congress to due their bidding is affecting our whole economy again unless we the people demand change get ready to get screwed again. Don’t let congress weaken the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
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