There used to be position limits in place to damper the effects of speculators (see post 17). And for good reason - to prevent what we have seen over the last 3-4 years in commodities markets.
2. The price you pay at the pump would average higher over time without speculators.
Bullcrap. Do you think oil companies like trying to figure out the viability of a project with the wild gyrations in oil prices we have seen as of late? Speculators don't produce or manufacture jack. All they do is claim they add liquidity - and last I checked, we have TOO MUCH liquidity over as of late.
3. Speculators don’t control the price of gasoline.
No, but when they help jack the price of oil up to $148/bbl, guess what? THE PRICE OF GAS GOES UP.
Any other worthless banalities you wish to add here?
“Any other worthless banalities you wish to add here?”
Yes. They may be worthless to you, but they allow financial independence for me. The govt does what the govt does and my job is to work around what they do and make money. Waiting for perfect govt is a waste of time. You deal with the govt you have, not the govt you wish for.
My goal is to make money without working, other than with my brain. That’s what I do, and I make part of my income in the energy investment field. I also ‘work’ in real estate. Guess what, there’s been a lot of money made in real estate during this crash. I made money during the last one in the 80’s too. That’s how I got my start.
I use current market conditions to my advantage. The price I pay at the pump has no relevance as I make much more through investing in energy during spikes than I could ever spend at the pump. Price movements, whether they be up or down, are good. A stable price would make investing boring and profits low.
Those who can’t afford to invest are the ones hurt by higher prices. But it doesn’t take much investment capital to outrun gas prices through proper investing.
You have more power at your disposal than you might think. I started with $5,000 at 30 and retired from daily work at 60.