What we need is tighter enforcment and regulation of the futures market and prosecution of those guilty of manipulating it. This is why gas is high right now, it has NOTHING to do with shortages of supply or increase in demand... just pure and simple greed and corruption in the futures market.
Oil futures are GLOBAL. Manipulation is people buying more future contracts for delivery of oil at a specific date. When they see the Iran / Iraq situation, they think that the oil they need to run their refineries (all over the world, the largest of which are outside the US) will be scarce so they are trying to buy the oil that they need to keep operation.
Such an investigation would be a waste of time and effort.
What we need is for congress to rescind its prior legislation mandating the use of ethanol, and for congress to cut the EPA's power to restrict expansion of refining capacity.
I agree about the prosecution part. Most of the 535 are eligible, imo.
Shortages are involved in gasoline prices, but the critical one may surprise you.
Could you elaborate on this?
I told my husband the same thing last evening. But when the corporate investors get their "fair" share on the long trade, they will short the market, then the market will drop like a bomb and the newbies will be paying for it. Not the time to trade light crude or gasoline.
Where is the SEC when you need them?
Service station buys 10,000 of gasoline at wholesale price of say 2.40 a gallon, cost equals $24000. After taxes and fees the owner averages say 8 cents a gallon, profit equals to a little over $1900. Before he runs out the wholesale jumps to 2.80 equals to 28,000. Even if he adjusts his price upward he would still not have enough from sales of the last delivery to pay for the next.
I'm not talking about the local corner gas station, the manipulation is occurring in the futures market, not at your local Exxon.
"What we need is tighter enforcment and regulation of the futures market and prosecution of those guilty of manipulating it. This is why gas is high right now, it has NOTHING to do with shortages of supply or increase in demand... just pure and simple greed and corruption in the futures market."
BINGO! Give that man a cigar. It is true that environuts and their paid ho's in congress (primarily democrats but a fair number of RINOs as well) deserve a huge share of the blame for the mess we are in (blocking refineries and drilling)--BUT--why are the oil industry and its allies strangely silent on this issue; they are allowing the enviros sole use of the megaphone. After all, the oil companies are so flush with cash compared to sierra club etc. that it would be possible for the oil companies--via an agressive advertising and lobbying blitz--to sweep aside much of the enviro objection to oil exploration and refinery building--IF THE OIL INDUSTRY CHOSE TO DO SO. I suspect that that the American oil industry considers the enviros useful idiots--as it is the excuse that oil refineries cannot be built or offshore drilling take place because of environmental regs which is keeping the price of oil HIGH! If your enemy is helping you to make a big profit, why stand in his way. If you made your living selling diamonds--a scarce resource found mostly in Africa with huge markup, the last thing you would want is for some upstart to find a motherlode of diamonds in the USA. That would depress the price of diamonds big time. If some anti-diamond group was preventing that upstart from mining for domestic diamonds, you'd be all for that anti-mining group. Oil is no different. Think about it; the advertising and lobbying muscle of the oil industry (as muscular as Charles Atlas) vs the advertising and lobbying muscle of the envirowhackos (as scrawny as Woody Allen). Combine that with the best Congress money can buy. Yet the oil industry is not taking advantage of this muscle. Strange, huh?