Comment Text:
Mitch Reagin
2231 250th st.
Lomita, CA 90717-2132
March 24, 2011
David Stawick
Secretary, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20581
Dear Mr. Stawick:
I'm tired of being strangled by the oil companies, and wall street. It is way past time for all POLITICAL PARTIES to fulfill there promise of curtailing BIG OIL, and WALL STREET. It is time to repeal the "Commodity Futures Modernization Act" and to increase the regulation on the oil industry and the futures market. Over the years we have seen regulations on markets slowly disappear one by one as corporations and wall street lobbied Congress. The recent pseudo regulations imposed by Congress after the financial meltdown do little if anything to control runaway corporations. The founding fathers of the United States understood clearly that an unbridled free market was harmful to the consumer; it is why the power to regulate commerce was added to the Constitution.
Excessive speculation hurt the economy in 2008 and, once again, is harming the economy in 2011. According to data recently released by the Commission, speculators have raised their positions in energy markets by
64 percent compared to June 2008, bringing speculation to the highest level on record.
We need meaningful, effective speculative position limits to restore balance to commodities markets and ensure that they are connected to market fundamentals, so that they fulfill their price-discovery function properly and without distortions caused by excessive speculation. In particular, I:
• support the Commission's immediate adoption of spot-month speculative position limits; • urge the Commission to adopt effective back-month levels that will accomplish the legislative purpose of curbing excessive speculation; • urge the Commission to adopt single-month limits that are no higher than two-thirds of the all-months-combined levels; • urge the Commission immediately to adopt a position-accountability regime for the nonspot months in place of its proposed position-visibility rule; and • urge the Commission to adopt lower speculative position limits for passive, long-only traders.
Time is of the essence, and I urge you to act quickly. Our pocketbooks and the broader economy depend on it.
Sincerely,
Mitch Reagin
3103269087
