This is a good plan- though doubtless Republicans will do everything imaginable to make sure the banksters can continue to defraud the American people as much as they please. His idea is actually quite reasonable and not extreme in any way, I hope it gets attention in congress. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obama moves to curb oil speculators President Obama is looking to limit some oil market activity, saying speculators lead to higher prices. President Obama is looking to limit some oil market activity, saying it leads to higher prices. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Obama administration proposed new measures Tuesday to limit speculation in the oil markets, seeking to draw a contrast with Republicans who have been calling for more domestic drilling during a time of near record gasoline prices. The new proposals require oil traders to put up more of their own money for transactions, ask for more money for market enforcement and monitoring activities, and call for higher penalties for market manipulation. "None of these will bring gas prices down overnight," Obama said at a White House press. "But they will prevent market manipulation, and help protect consumers." The impact that speculation, or investment money, is having on oil prices is a subject of much debate. Many argue that investment money, especially index fund money, is largely to blame for the spike in oil prices seen over the last several years. They say the amount of oil traded in futures contracts greatly exceeds the amount of actual oil available, and that the bets on higher prices made by index funds are a self-fulfilling prophecy. http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/17/markets/obama-oil-speculators/index.htm?hpt=hp_t3
If he outlaws speculation here, it will all just move somewhere else like London. Most of it already has. Speculators are just another boogie man for the Obamabots to blame they don't have any real impact on oil prices in the long term. Anyway, all this is just another distraction from the fact that Obama used to eat dogs.
Based on the past few month's worth of threads originating from the right-wing about how Obama is doing nothing to lower oil prices, this should mean that we'll finally hear some praise from the right. Ah ha ha ha...just kidding. Cue the right-wing (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing...
I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I don't know if it will work, but I give Obama credit for trying to do something about these oil traders.
This is more election year posturing to get votes. Obama if he means this should have done it long ago instead he waits to use it for votes. more Chicago style gutter politics
WTF? First, it's everywhere in the leftwad Jurassic sycophant toady media that THE PRESIDENT HAS NO CONTROL OVER OIL PRICES. Now it seem like he thinks he does. Was the administration lying then or is it lying now? Trick question. They're ALWAYS lying. Speculation = liquidity. It's not an inch deeper than that.
The president mostly has no control over oil prices. Regulating speculation could control prices a little bit, but as mentioned above -- it just moves elsewhere. The president can also affect oil prices via the release of reserves, but again, this effect is temporary. So, overall, things like this proposed legislation are just posturing.
Obama is just posturing for the base of Obama voters not actually trying to lower oil prices. If lower fossil fuel prices were his goal Obama would allow more domestic oil production on public lands which he is not. And he would seek to balance the federal budget and end the growing Obama deficits that is causing the speculators to buy oil and drive the price up to begin with. But instead Obama is addicted to federal spending and always will be/
It's amazing how you obamabots will fall for anything this guy says. Weird how BP helped bankroll his last election, and now he's going too turn around and bite the hand that feeds him? He's bought and paid for, like any other politician, and yet you dweebs are too blind too see this. Grow the (*)(*)(*)(*) up.
Romney is getting popularity so the Obama is thought that he also want popularity in the public so he is doing this like oil speculators.
as others have pointed out, oil speculation is a worldwide thing, he might as well try and curb sunshine. All Obama is doing is posing and useless as ever. As long as he can fool the libs I guess it works for him
Who can do this all problems to solve ? Obama is having the power to solve the all problems and why he is not doing ? he is helping to other countries and donating the funds and not developing the American's.
All he has to do is commit the Government to purchasing Natural Gas Cars in 2013 where it's available. I can't tell you how many cities have done just that. Mine has, all our city buses and municipal vehicles ALL run on LNG.
Gas Sources are limited this is not a renewable energy source so my commitment is to run Solar power cars and Electric car's. what do you think this technology ?
This ^^^ The most 'intellectual' president of our time would have easily foreseen the need... and sought to fulfill it with his super majority. Pure pandering to populist sentiments.... and we wonder how centrally planned tyranny evolves.
I'm so sick of Democrat "pitchfork and torch" politics. It is so disgustingly transparent that the Democrats and Obama have absolutely no clue what they are doing and instead just burn strawman after strawman after strawman. When will the Democrats stop seeking "revenge" on the rich on behalf of the poor and start doing constructive policy making?? It is not the job of the US Government to seek revenge against the Rich on behalf of the peasants.
We have a massive natural gas reserve. It'll last us long enough to make a transition towards renewable energy sources. But leftists are not practical - they want to make the transition regardless of the economic and technological feasibility of such. Their man-made global warming religion has turned them into unthinking drones.
Lib logic tells them that the reserve does not really exist if they can pass enough regulations to prevent us from getting the gas out of the ground.
Why do you think this will lower oil prices? Do you realize what we had controlling oil prices BEFORE oil was traded on the futures market. And yes the markets will just move to London or Hong Kong. They have pulled this stunt over and over and everytime they investigate they find nothing untowards going on. Do you really fall for this smoke and mirrors he is pulling?
Last June, President Doofus ordered a release of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57620.html Isn't it strange that he hasn't done this already again this year? If he's holding this stock of oil intact in spite of gas prices that are much higher than anything we saw last year, what could it be for? This silly little pissant nothing that Obama announced about investment "skin in the game" won't shake out the major players, and he knows it. It's just another half-assed Obamanite political sop to put something in the news that doesn't suck....
Exact same plan he campaigned on last time. You know, back when Democrats won majorities in both the House and Senate.
How about *drum roll* a Strategic Reserve?...lol.. We have strict controls on electric companies and rates they can charge. We are talking about energy that moves this nation, that is vital to its operation and national security; especially now with our deep recession. That was the argument used and allowed to justify utility controls so that this nation could not be held hostage at the meter by monopoly. The same is true for BigOil. It is merely an energy provider, a utility. How it has escaped the same type of legitimate regulation is beyond me. Regulate gas prices. Don't regulate just at the power companies. Seems this administration has a nice loophole from which to work. Not like any previous administrations took advantage of the word "national security" to get away with all kinds of things...
Ones Gas Sources are over then what will you do ? If we use solar energy this in never ending source.
Anyone care to explain why natural gas prices are so low? The same sort of speculation going in in oil is going on in natural gas, with total trades each far exceeding the amount of natural gas extracted. The price, then, should be going up, but it's been at it's cheapest in years. Darn those speculators making all the markets all sorts of crazy. We need government to regulation production and consumption!
