Comment Text:
My name is Maggie Leonard. I drive 30 minutes to and from work every day, and I feel the effects of every increase in the price of gas. I work in an Arizona school district where I see daily the effects on children whose parents struggle with little means to give them the basics--food, clothing, shelter. The current upsurge in food and gas prices is having a dramatic and negative effect on the young families we serve. They are our collective future and their "blueprint" for success or failure is being mapped right now with how well we provide for their basic needs.
I urge you to curb excessive gambling in commodities markets like food and oil.
While many factors contribute to today’s highly volatile commodity prices, it is clear that excessive speculation is partially responsible, as shown in dozens of studies by respected institutions such as Princeton, MIT, Petersen Institute, University of London, Yale, the United Nations and the U.S. Senate.
Speculation thus imposes financial hardships on families around the country, as I am seeing first-hand in Tucson, Arizona. Sudden rises in gas and food prices force us to make difficult decisions and sacrifices. Especially right now, with so many families struggling, and unemployment barely beginning to decrease, we cannot allow speculators to unduly affect our food and gas prices. Will we allow the future of the next generation to be so easily bartered away so that a handful of speculators can play "monopoly" with their lives?
Please put in place effective position limits rules, and do not allow them to be undermined by exemptions or exceptions, or allow Wall Street gamblers to escape them.
Thank you for your consideration.
Maggie Leonard
