Gas Pump Gouging: Don’t Blame the Saudis

[Crewleader]

by Mike Whitney / June 25th, 2008

There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn’t mean we’re not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today’s gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation, rampant, “unregulated” speculation. The peak oil doomsayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it’s about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed by the same carpet bagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they’re on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil.

MarketWatch summed it up like this on Monday:

Speculators now account for about 70% of all benchmark crude-oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 37% in 2000… The report comes ahead of a House oversight subcommittee hearing slated for later Monday on Capitol Hill to study the role of financial investors in the crude futures market.

Congress has grown increasingly concerned over speculative investors’ role in the energy market in comparison with those buying futures contracts to hedge against risk from price changes. Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to set strict limits — or in some cases, an outright ban — on speculative trading in energy futures in some markets.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/gas-pump-gouging-dont-blame-the-saudis/

[rpannier]

1. Regulate it or Nationalize It

Don't care which, but do it.

[provis99]

2. I don't blame the Saudis; its their oil, they can sell it for whatever they can get

the problem is these useless speculators on the oil commodity market, who make millions without producing a single thing, all on the backs of the consumers.