I get messages from a Maryland politician, who's a pretty right wing conservative, just so I can see what other people are thinking. I guess I would be labelled a middle-roader liberal, but I have conservative tendancies about some things as I get older. Anyway, he posted the following observation this morning, and I thought it was highly relevant to the ongoing discussion:
In 2000, Congress de-regulated the futures market, allowing complicated derivatives and electronic trading that resulted in a "speculator's paradise". Oil supplies are greater today than they were three years ago and the demand for oil is lower today than it was in 1997. Dan Gilligan, the President of the Petroleum Marketers Association, told reporter Steve Cross on 60 Minutes, "Federal regulators don't have access to data and they don't know who holds what position on oil price speculation."
Professor of Economics James Hamilton at the University of California notes that 10 of the last 11 U.S. recessions were preceded by a run-up in oil process. The current gas prices could be a warning of another dip in the economy.
The CEO of Exxon admitted in 2011 that speculation engineered by hedge funds drove prices over $100 per barrel while supply and demand economics could only justify $60 per barrel. A catalyst for the September, 2008 financial crisis was the increase in oil prices by nearly one trillion dollars. This money transferred from the family budget of Americans into the vaults of OPEC Islamic countries that subscribe to" Sharia Compliance Finance" while using those funds to conduct economic warfare against the United States.
Speculation on oil is called "paper oil" and many believe it is about 40% of the price that we pay at the pump. Speculation investments increased from 13 billion to 300 billion in the five years leading up to the 2008 peak price. Twenty barrels were being traded as "paper oil" for financial gain for every one barrel naturally being consumed by the American public. In another words at $100 a barrel, the real value was $60 or $2.50 a gallon compared to $4.00 at the pump.
Today, speculators control more than 80% of the energy futures market - a figure that has more than doubled in 10 years.
The President, Congress and enforcement agencies have stood silent while the American people have become targets of economic warfare. These attacks are both foreign and domestic. Recently, the President has targeted speculation and promised to do something about it. We the people and the American economy are still waiting for results.
*Please note: Much of the information contained in this letter is from the book, Secret Weapon, by Kevin Freeman.