[NVDave]

Since the CFMA in 2000, energy and financial futures products have been accorded special exemptions from some of the rules that have been in place in commodity markets since the 1920’s.

Subsequent to CFMA, we have now had two clear, unequivocal instances of energy price manipulation. The first was Enron and electrical power futures, and the second was natural gas futures and Amaranth.

Amaranth was found last year to have manipulated prices:

http://www.ogfj.com/index/article-display/3186362116/articles/oil-gas-financial-journal/software-technology/energy-trading/ferc-finds_market.html

It is time to undo the idiocy that Phil Gramm put into place with CFMA. Just undo it and go back to how the commodities markets used to work. They worked well for 70+ years for producers, consumers and speculators.

[SAJ]

Indeed. Well said. You will have noticed, no doubt, that it was the exchange(s) themselves who stopped the greatest attempt in the 20th century at market manipulation in the US, namely, the attempted silver corner by the Hunt brothers et al. CFTC had virtually nothing to do with halting the corner. Well, they DID turn out some wicked press releases...

CMA2000 is arguably the single worst piece of legislation to come out of the Regress since Medicare in 1965. Orders of magnitude worse than the re-writing of the CRA rules by Andrew Cuomo in spring of 1995.