Comment Text:
There is a glut of crude oil in the market right now, and according to the Energy Information Administration reports,
stockpiles of crude are at record highs (the highest levels in over 27 years...we are *swimming* in crude...), yet thanks
to speculators (who have no intention of ever taking delivery of any product) continued use of the futures markets
as an investment avenue, the future price of crude oil (and therefore, gasoline) continues to escalate without any
economic basis to do so, and the American consumer/worker is left holding the bag….
Right now traders are allowed to borrow a significant amount of money to speculate in energy. The rules need
to be changed so that less borrowed money can be used to gamble on energy futures contracts, and so that only
folks who intend to take delivery of the product can invest large sums of money into oil-related commodities.
Over the course of an average month 5 BILLION barrels of oil will be traded, with a fee being collected on every
single transaction which is ultimately passed down to US consumers, yet less than 40M barrels will actually be
delivered. That is just 8 tenths of 1 percent of actual demand for the product that is being traded – 99.2% of the
oil transaction fees being paid by the American people do nothing more than create fees for the traders and
record profits and bonuses for the trading firms!
It truly takes a global village of manipulators and their lackeys to pull off a con on the scale of oil but it’s
also the most profitable scam ever perpetrated on the people of this planet as they take control of a vital
resource and then create artificial shortages and drive speculative demand in order to charge us an extra
dollar per gallon of gas. We don’t complain because it’s "only" $15-$20 every time we fill up our tanks, but
that’s what they count on – it’s $20 from me and $20 from EVERY SINGLE ONE of us once or twice a week
and $20 more dollars we all need just to get to work. It’s money that could be going back into our economy
instead of a new gold bathtub for a Saudi Prince or a Goldman trader.
Before ICE, the average American family spent 7% of their income on food and fuel. Last year, that number topped
20%. That’s 13% of the incomes of every man, woman and child in the United States of America, over $1Tn EVERY
SINGLE YEAR, stolen through market manipulation. On a global scale, that number is over $4Tn per year – 80 Madoffs!
Why is there no outrage? Why are there no investigations?
The price of oil and gasoline should be a matter of national security. Washington cannot allow speculators to do
whatever they want with such an important / inelastic commodity.
