Comment Text:
Christopher Graessle
191 Broadway, Apt 4D
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522-2824
April 10, 2011
David Stawick
Secretary, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20581
Dear Mr. Stawick:
We've been down this road before, but never at such a critical economic time as now. I'm a 40 year old professional with a family who is feeling the pinch at the pump and straight across the board due to increasing oil prices. I'm the guy you people are supposed to like - my grandmother was a DAR member (we helped settle this country), I'm married, have a child, have an Ivy League Master's degree, am married to a public teacher and am involved in running a small business that keeps other American's employed
- yet you allow a small handful of people to generate overwhelming profits at my expense...and the expense of millions just like me? The future of this country relies on you putting a stop to this - we need a chance to
survive and maybe even thrive.
Let's get it all straight - 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,
Christopher Graessle
914-231-9309
