Question for foxdrones about gas prices

Do you really believe all that shit you say? I mean really?
Anna Staver
anna.staver@huffingtonpost.com
Gas Price Experts: Wall Street 'Casinos' Raise Pain At The Pump

Posted: 04/ 4/2012 6:56 pm Updated: 04/ 4/2012 8:20 pm




WASHINGTON -- Americans are paying for $4-a-gallon gasoline because Wall Street "casinos" have blocked regulators from cracking down on rampant oil speculation, finance experts argued on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
In an effort to counter Republican claims that gas prices are high because the Obama administration does not allow enough drilling, House Democratic leaders staged a hearing featuring former Reagan and Clinton administration oil and trading analysts who blame the surge on speculation.
And the vast profits from that speculation do not go into developing more oil or creating jobs, the analysts argued.
"Your constituents should know that every time they break their heart by buying $4 and maybe soon $5 gasoline, that money isn't going into production," said University of Maryland professor Michael Greenberger, who served as director of the division of trading and markets for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the Clinton administration. "It's going into homebuilding in the Hamptons and yacht building."
And the big finance firms are working overtime to ensure that the speculative commodity keeps flowing, he said.

"They've got hundreds of millions of dollars that they are using in lobbying on the Hill" or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Greenberger told HuffPost after the session. "Now they are bringing all these lawsuits; they are stopping the action that has already been asked for by Congress to stop the speculation."
He was referring to suits that seek to limit certain Dodd-Frank financial reforms that, among other things, grant the commission the power to crack down on excessive oil speculation.
Greenberger told the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee that curtailing the speculation -- some of which he said was necessary -- would cost nothing and would not stop any markets from functioning.
"What are you stopping here? Are you stopping money from going into production? Are you stopping money from [reaching] people creating jobs?" Greenberger asked. "Unless you think casinos -- which come to us with names like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -- are job creators, you’re stopping betting. If we’re wrong about this -- if everything we're telling you is incorrect -- what will you have done except close a couple of casinos?"
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) pressed Greenberger if there was contradictory evidence when it comes to figuring out whether high gas prices could be cured through increased drilling and domestic oil production.
Greenberger conceded that one or two experts in the country would hold that opinion but said the vast majority in his field believe that Wall Street sets the price of oil.
"Many would like you to believe that this is a supply-demand problem. It's not," Greenberger said. "It is excessive speculation, which is a fancy way of saying that gamblers wearing Wall Street suits have taken over and created investment vehicles designed to drive the price of oil up."
He cited testimony by Goldman Sachs earlier this year asserting that speculation drives up the cost of a barrel of oil by as much as $23.39.
Gene Guildford, a former president of the Maine Oil Dealers Association and a Reagan administration Commerce Department official, estimated that speculation translates into roughly a dollar added to the price of each gallon of gasoline bought by the U.S. consumer. "Instead of spending four dollars, you should have been spending something closer to three dollars for your gallon of gasoline," he said.
The extra cost to America's drivers is staggering, Guildford said. "At 11 billion gallons a month that Americans consume, Americans today are paying $10 billion more a month for gasoline today than they did in December."
Both men urged the committee to fully fund the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and propose legislation in the House aimed at cutting oil speculation to what is required to keep the markets liquid.
Otherwise, it's just making millionaires richer and middle-class Americans poorer, they and Democrats argued.
"Wall Street speculators are artificially driving up the price at the pump and causing pain to millions of American consumers," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Conservatards in 2004: The President can't control the price of gas

conservatards in 2012: HOW DARE THIS KENYAN MUSLIM SOCIALIST RAISE GAS PRICES!!!!!

It is all a bunch of bull shit. It is all profit taking from the oil companies. If they want to charge $6 - 7 a gallon they can do what ever they want. There is no way that the government will be able to regulate any gas prices. They only way to control the prices from a private company is for the government to purchase all of the oil companies then they could regulate the pricing. And that will never happen.

Shouldn't these high gas prices and profits the big oil companies are making "trickle down" and be a wonderful thing for us?

Democrats in 2004, High gas prices are because we have an oil man in the white house, Bush, Cheney and Halliburton.

Democrats in 2012, The president shouldn't be held responsible for high gas prices.

both sides are full of shit on this issue.

Huffington Post solid source

You can't make this shit up

Its no secret that Obama wants to raise gas prices with taxes because of his fear of plant food C02.

another victory for deregulation and the invisible hand

I think the term used was "Bush and his oil buddies"

you do realize the article addresses gas prices, right?

HuffPo always has a lot to say on a lot of subjects...

You don't know what you're talking about. One of the biggest reasons for rising gas prices is the fact that the dollar has been weakened. Now THAT you can blame on Obama to some degree; huge national debts and deficits, easy-money policies (low interest rates) and credit downgrading.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42703813/Don_t_Like_a_Weak_Dollar_Might_as_Well_Get_Used_to_It

HuffPo says that Wall Street is blocking regulators from cracking down on speculation...

Why do Democrats in Congress let Wall Street get away with this?

deafening silence

And here I was thinking the same thing

The producers are cutting back on production by closing refineries. Wall Street is a problem and the profits are enhanced by the flow of oil as controlled by the Oil companies. You can call for all the drill baby drill shit you want. but the guys with their hands on the refining have a lot more control than most will ever know. Lower supply and you have increased demand and higher prices. I guess you never had Samuelson's basic economics in day care !

Anna Staver is rather cute
As such I will agree with her

this is exactly why oil (and other commodities) should not and cannot be denominated exclusively in us dollars; u.s dollar hegemony will die in time, the sooner the better (for the world, not necessarily for the united states). good enough.

A term that is truthful, and accurate.

however is reading this tell that limbaugh cock sucker depace that he is a right wing ass goblin and to eat shit and die.

Yeah, and Chris Christy is due to be indicted anyday now.

give the u.s dollar hegemony another decade, don't take it for granted.

Sorry Ass Hat,but you got it all wrong.
It was Nancy Pelosi,a democRAT who staged that bullshit presser in front of a gas station.
Once Bush lifted the ban on off shore drilling(July 2008),prices began to fall.
Obama inherited a AAA rating,7% unemployment and $1.81 gas.
So,fuck you very much.

Wrong on all counts !