Comments on: Stopping Oil Manipulation

By: n-tres-ted

n-tres-ted — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:15:51 +0000

Apparently Speaker Pelossi is willing to take the chance Democrats will be seen as favoring high gasoline prices while betting that Republicans will be blamed for prices at the pump. But in the Senate, the bill to stop oil manipulation was filibustered by Republicans on grounds they want more oil drilling. What a mess!

By: n-tres-ted

n-tres-ted — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:06:08 +0000

Alexis,

I’m very pleased to learn you are covering this subject of concern for the failure of effective regulatory oversight, as you are in the case of naked short selling of corporate securities. As you stated you are studying this problem further, may I suggest that an excellent way to do that is to view the video of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing held June 23, which is linked here: http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-oi-hrg.062308.EnergySpec.shtml

Statements and questions by subcommittee members are informative, but the testimony of the witnesses on the first panel (experts in the energy and futures markets) is extremely informative. The second panel includes representatives of industries using fuel, including airlines and trucking, as well as home heating oil. The other two panels include the acting chairman of the CFTC and the president of the NYMEX, as well as a London representative of the Intercontinental Exchange, the dark market for oil futures trading (based in Atlanta). The latter two panels are most helpful in identifying who the culprits are in the outrageous abuse of the financial markets and the American people.

HR 6330 is the House bill to correct the problem, and it is being held in committee until its release is approved by Speaker Pelossi.

By: Mr Steveo

Mr Steveo — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:57:41 +0000

Business’s on windmill electric power can not tack off if the democrats keep trying to topple the republicans Weill they are in power the country of America needs power RgHT NoW>

By: Jim Hanneke

Jim Hanneke — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:06:30 +0000

Alexis,
To learn about the oil supply problem, please read two books.
“Twilight in the Desert” The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and The World Economy by Mathew R. Simmons.
“Hubbert’s Peak” The Impending World Oil Shortage by Kenneth Defeyes.
After you have read these two books, you will know more about the oil supply problem then 99% of the people you interview. Then have both of these authors on you show. Please take the time to read these books. This is the second biggest problem facing our country after security. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your show.
Jim Hanneke
Hattiesburg, MS

By: d.p. burke

d.p. burke — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:32:32 +0000

lexis;

Simple Solution, maybe too simple…

Anyone can buy oil futures. If you can’t prove that you can take physical delivery of this commodity; then you cannot buy it. One may lease storage tanks or a portion thereof but that will only increase supply as a rush to build more (despite the incredible permit process) will occur. The first candidate to suggest it, under emergency executive order
will win hands down. George could win a third term…

By: me

me — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:24:43 +0000

STOP that manipulation. You should be ashamed of yourself

By: Mr Steveo

Mr Steveo — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:14:20 +0000

The indifference is that the Republicans are picking up all the democrats loses as they tripped up with out containing a safe net barrier to trip up with from ,!So republicans say to democrats cry all you wants still not gonna do you no good That’s right the republicans have it all the spoils that demos could not contain You are Looking at the Republicans most wealthy presidency in world history And I have a stock Yet to start Plastic transportable liner units to be sold to the world shipping Steel plastic core lining’s for ship stores!!!

By: BIGFOOT

BIGFOOT — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:53:13 +0000

The Dutch company Optiver is the fall guy. the CFTC had to make it look good so they charged Opiver to take the heat off themselves. I am suprised the airlines, Trucking companies etc are not organizing a class action lawsuit against the CFTC for poor management of commodities trading. After all they are supposed to control what goes on and have done little or next to nothing up till now to protect the consumer. BEven Billionair George Soros says there needs to be better regulation in commodities trading.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:46:45 +0000

Jim,
Follow the trail of money … special interest and the politically correct crowd are destroying the marketplace. Supply and demand on it’s own can no longer determine the price. If you just take your example of the refineries, look at the regulation involved in building one. You have the environmental lobby saying ‘ Global Warming ‘ with no real proof we are having any affect on the planet. Politicians looking to cover their butts by making sure they are ‘Green’ so they can get re-elected and get more handouts, and finally the local officials saying ‘Not in my backyard’ when it comes to finding somewhere to build one …. so you tell me who’s to blame?
The way I see it Oil companies are at the bottom of the list. If I were an oil company, why go through that mess, just keep cashing the check and let the public suffer. They are not out to make our lives better, they are businesses out to make a profit. Blame the tree huggers and every other group that put their cause above the greater good. It takes leadership to solve these problems and I haven’t seen one of them in a very long time.

By: Scott MrArbitrage

Scott MrArbitrage — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:34:51 +0000

Alexis, Goldman may or may not have inside information but even if they do not, the ignominious thing that has received little if any attention is their arbitrary “price targets” their “analysts” have proclaimed in recent weeks. They have a serious conflict of interest as I explained in my column on June 20th:

Speculation: Good for America but Manipulative Analysis = Crime against Humanity

Goldman Sachs is at it again. As we all know, oil was pulling back yesterday on news that China was going to stop subsidizing oil, which would require citizens to pay more out of pocket.

The common interpretation of that news was that it would assuage demand in China, which is often used by Goldman analysts to justify any arbitrary price target they conjure up.

Goldman didn’t waste any time today coming out with a “glass is half empty” proclamation saying “China price hike unlikely to curb demand”.

Frankly, with essential commodities, the firm should not be allowed to offer ANY analyst coverage if they have any type of position in a commodity, directly or indirectly – EVEN IF they disclose it (as they always do with stocks).

What they really need to do is treat people found guilty of market manipulation by knowingly disseminating false information for financial gain (or to avert losses) as those who commit treason against their country. The same should apply to analysts or firms who disseminate subjective information that cannot be proven false but clearly benefits the firm’s investment position. If the consequences are more severe than the typical short term vacation at Club Fed, I believe it would have a more viable effect than more government red tape.

For example, if it were to be found that analysts at investment firms were making outlandish, seemingly arbitrary price targets for oil; going to $200 per barrel while they or any subsidiary or hedge fund had a long position in oil at the time, they should be charged with treason, defined as “the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.” I suspect there are firms doing this and the timing of Goldman’s public proclamations seem a bit suspicious. Whatever the case, it should be considered a crime against humanity as it has literally led to rioting and starvation in some countries.

Senators like Joe Lieberman and John McCain are calling for investigation of speculators. Speculation is good. Without it we would still be in the stone ages. Speculators alone have not caused the run up in oil to today’s levels. If it were speculation alone, this would have happened long ago. I believe it is the –ANALYSTS- who feed the frenzy of excessive speculation who are to blame and I think it would be naive to think they don’t have a vested interest somewhere along the line to make these ridiculous predictions while knowing they would become self-fulfilling prophecies – just like in the Tech/Internet bubble of the 90’s.

This bubble is much more harmful to the public because when analysts like Henry Blodget made outrageous recommendations and predictions for the valuation of Yahoo, the only people hurt were those who participated in the stock market – by choice. No matter how absurd the market cap of YHOO was at $200 BILLION – the consumer didn’t pay more for Yahoo’s services (free), the same with AOL or GE appliances. The consumer prices were not affected.

The analysts at these firms who are throwing gasoline on the fire (no pun intended) in the commodities market are destroying the financial well being of hundreds of millions of consumers. They have a constitutional right to express their beliefs regarding the future price of oil; however, if their firms are profiting from the upward direction of those oil prices by any means other than paid subscriptions to their analysis – they should be charged with crimes against humanity. Legislate THAT and you will see a much more circumspect approach to their analysis. I promise you.