Comment Text:
Dear CFTC,
I am writing you to urge the CFTC to stop speculators from interfering and manipulating the price of food, energy and other sensitive commodities.
Wall Street lobbyists are destroying regular hard-working Americans like myself everyday by speculating on goods necessary for our everyday lives...Food, gasoline, energy, etc. They are destroying small business which has been the backbone of our country since it was founded.
Nearly 25% of my monthly net income goes to food alone. Add to that the current utility bills (electric, sewer and water) take another 15 to 25% of my take-home salary. Mine and my neighbors utility bills are through the roof; the average monthly utility bills for modest middle-class homes in our Jacksonville, Florida area run between $250 to $680 per month. In winter-time they go even higher. For most people here, that is an entire week's gross pay. This summer, we went without central air conditioning, and temperatures in our home regularly reach 98 degrees during the daytime. Last winter, 38 degrees inside our home without the heat on. We cannot afford to turn on the central heat and air.
My take home pay in 2011 does not afford me the lifestyle I lived 10-11 years ago. My current pay level is at what I made 20 years ago, yet my expenses have quadrupled or more.
As you can see between food and utilities, nearly 50% of monthly incomes go to those two items alone. Add in rent or mortgage payments, car insurance, homeowners or renters insurance, car payment, car maintenance and gasoline, there is absolutely nothing left for anything else. No healthcare insurance, no retirement savings, no emergency savings, no post-secondary education for our children, no entertainment, no vacations, no new clothing to speak of.
This seems criminal to me.
It is time for the CFTC to impose meaningful position limits before Wall Street speculators and lobbyists finish destroying Lower and Middle Class Americans completely.
Thank you,
Aileen Scurato
