Are the super-rich driving up oil prices to make themselves even richer...? Na-a-a-aaah... Perish the thought...

i've been increasingly suspicious that the dramatic rise in oil prices is just another orchestrated money grab by the super-rich, power elites... looks like i may not be the only person who harbors those dark thoughts...

mcclatchy...

A key federal regulator said Thursday that it's been probing whether speculators are manipulating the price of oil and gasoline and announced a series of measures to make the opaque world of oil trading more transparent.

In a surprise announcement, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) confirmed that since last December it's been investigating the trading of contracts for future deliveries of oil, commonly called futures contracts.

"Although the commission ordinarily conducts enforcement investigations on a confidential basis, the commission is taking the extraordinary step of disclosing this investigation because of today's unprecedented market conditions," the statement said. "The specifics of the ongoing investigation remain confidential. All commission enforcement inquiries are focused on ensuring that the markets are properly policed for manipulation and abusive practices."

la times...

"It shouldn't have taken oil and gasoline prices hitting Guinness-like record highs for the federal government to look into possible price manipulation by speculators, but it should also be looking at manipulation by oil companies and oil producers," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

[...]

A commission official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations publicly, said the commission's economists were fairly sure that there had been no criminal manipulation of the market.

that last paragraph as much as says that the investigation is principally for show, that there is no intention to get to the bottom of the matter... (like we thought for a moment that there would be...)

Submit To Propeller
Tweet