Comment Text:
Gentlemen:
I am sending this email in response to a public letter from Senator Bill Nelson:
“A loaf of whole wheat. A gallon of gasoline. A pair of Levi’s. Americans are paying more for many basic items this year, making tough economic times even tougher.”
Part of the reason, according to The New York Times, is that speculators are still playing games in the marketplace. Our regulators allow them to wildly bid up the price for everyday items we need, like wheat, gasoline and heating oil...
Despite a clear directive from Congress to rein in excessive speculation, our watchdogs in Washington seem to be listening more to Wall Street, and not acting quickly enough to protect American consumers. Consider: On any given day about half of the oil futures contracts are bought and sold by traders, not companies that use oil, like airlines and power companies. And the sky’s the limit when it comes to how much of the market traders can control.
To help stop the manipulation of commodities prices, send an e-mail now to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...
Sincerely,
Nelson Signature "
To be brief, I simply don't agree with him. Prices are being driven up by all the inflationary actions of the Federal Reserve. You know what they are doing, but this is my conclusion. Speculators driving commodity prices up is not the problem. Relentless expansion of the Fed's balance sheet and near-zero artificially-forced near-zero interest rates are.
However, it is becoming common knowledge among more Americans everyday that you at the CFTC have no problem with down-side speculation/manipulation in the gold and silver markets. When will position limits be enforced? The large short positions held be the commercial banks and their ability to infinitely naked-short the precious metals market is a crime. In these commodities, price discovery is broken and the true cost of physical metal is disconnecting from the prices at the COMEX. The growing problem of cash settlements are also being ignored by the CFTC.
Will you please do your job and properly regulate the large banks which pose as "commercial" participants. I pray for the day when something like true price discovery between supply and demand trading returns to the COMEX gold and silver pits.
My QUESTION - When will you do your job that the law requires?
Tony Porzio
9718 Golf Course Rd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114-4215
(505) 898-5946
