They are driving the price of oil and gas down. Without government intervention, the market will fix issues of supply , demand and price. Government's role is to create a business friendly environment that promotes growth and entices foreign companies to relocate to the USA.
Speculators are to markets as stimulants and depressives are to human bodies. They exacerbate the normal functioning of the system. There is a very simply solution to end speculation...don't let people who are not either going to deliver or accept delivery of the commodities buy or sell those futures. That would mean that if you're not IN that business, you cannot make bets on it.
I don't know about the rest of the nation, but a week ago gas had dropped from $4.39 to $4.23, yesterday I put gas in the car and it was up to $4.67!
Speculators have been around even when gas prices are down. They are betting that gas prices will keep going up because Barry told them that's what he wants.
The thing is that "speculators" is a term with a lot of groups in it. Its good to explain what kind fo speculators we are talking about For example we are not talking about "speculators" who go to farmers and basically insure their crops so that if an unexpected drought occurs the farmer doesn't go bankrupt. What we are talking about are "speculators" who just buy a bunch of oil and have it sit because they know the price will go up and when a lot of people do this the price goes up because all the oil is sitting in a warehouse.
We are at the point in history where we are mortgaging our great grand kids future because the president set up an anti-energy agenda. Barry Hussein tells Americans to wait a while and he will create "alternate" energy but it's a cruel lie. There are no green jobs and their ain't no alternate energy. Smart speculators gladly invest in oil futures because Barry told them that he will punish Americans for their decadent lifestyle by increasing the cost of fossil fuels. Didn't the former community activist understand the economic system or is he trying to turn the greatest Country into another 3rd world slum?
Which one? IMO every President since (and including) Nixon has been a lying bastard about energy, some worse than others, but all lying bastards. The American people require it, so while they might be lying bastards, you can argue that it is required of them by their constituents. Sorry, but until you drive on I70 to the west of Salina Kansas and see the size of the construction going on, it is difficult to make that statement, if only because of all the people working, and all the alternate energy being produced.
Nixon has been accused of a lot of things. Perhaps you can enlighten us to how he lied about alternate energy. Kudos to the good people of Salina Kansas but whatever they are building is unfortunately not an example of Barry's National green jobs success.
If that we're true, why wouldn't those companies in the oil business simply ignore the speculator's bets and set their own prices? Speculators help the market, that's why those in the oil business utilize their bets to plan, to set contracts for future delivery, etc. This helps to smooth the system, exacty the opposite of what you're suggesting. When many people put their capital on the line, the prices of those bets are excellent indicators of future supply and demand. By your logic, I would have to be an electrician to speculate on the price of GE stock. How crazy you want to go with your meddling?
