President Obama is pressing forward with more restrictions on Wall Street to limit oil speculation. We’ve talked about Wall Street manipulation of gas prices via oil speculation many times. You can read about that HERE. More and more people are starting to realize that the oil market is a global market and the answer is not simply “Drill, Baby, Drill”. It’s a complicated issue with a growing global demand and U.S. oil production is at a 12 year high. It’s estimated that Wall Street speculators account for at least 25% of the cost of a gallon of gas….and President Obama is proposing to do more about that despite significant Republican opposition.
Obama’s plan this time calls on Congress to:
_ Increase six-fold the surveillance and enforcement staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to better deter oil market manipulation.
_ Increase spending on technology to provide better oversight and surveillance of energy markets.
_ Increase civil and criminal penalties against firms that engage in market manipulation from $1 million to $10 million.
_ Give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to increase the amount of money that a trader must put up to back a trading position. The administration officials said such authority could help limit disruptions in energy markets.
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[...] Obama has gone after the oil speculators which I have written about HERE and HERE. And Wall Street is suing in court to allow them to manipulate the price of oil as [...]
[...] Lastly – what Romney did not say is that he would eliminate the mileage standards established by the Obama administration. Thanks to President Obama – by 2025 – the average car fleet would have to average 54.5 per gallon. Romney’s campaign has said he “opposes these extreme standards” (source). So – he’s against increasing mileage standards. But he’s also against the action that President Obama has taken regarding oil speculators in Wall Street who are pushing up the cost of oil. President Obama has gone after the oil speculators which I have written about HERE and HERE. [...]
[...] Obama has gone after the oil speculators on Wall Street who are manipulating the price of oil (source); in fact – Wall Street is suing the government so that it can speculate on oil and other [...]