Forum Post: Unregulated Wallstreet is why gas prices are at 3 bucks plus.
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 20, 2011, 3:18 p.m. EST by flamingliberal
(138)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The only reason gas prices are high is because no one will regulate Wallstreet. This is driving up the price for food and other goods. The party that supports deregulation of everything is the GOP.
Here is some intel on the banking sector. Someone forwarded this article on "pushback" from banksters on regulations. It has a good link to their letter they sent to fight against the banking manuver.
http://bettermarkets.com/blogs/industry-attempts-kill-reform-bogus-cost-benefit-claims
http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1107203470958-11/O%27Malia+CBA+letter+to+OMB.pdf
http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@newsroom/documents/file/omalialetter022312.pdf
Pass it on to your friends.
So when the gas prices were DOWN just before obama took over suggest from YOU that Wall Street WAS regulated under Bush (low gas prices) and high under obama. Cool.
Th reason gas prices are so high is because of speculation about turmoil in the middle east.
I was just looking for a place to post what a guy said that supports what you have posted. This person "adr" posted 27 FEB 2012 (13:35 PM) in the comment section of zero hedge dot com. I think this guy said something good (his handle is "adr"). The link is http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-09-27/dollar-gold-and-gasoline-much-ado-about-nothing
At this point we don't even know what the true market price of oil would be. It has been so distorted by the manipulated market and central bank liquidity injections, true supply and demand isn't even visible.
We know there is more than enough supply stored in the US. We know that more supply is currently being held as an investment hedge than held for actual productive use. China is buying reserves, not buying for current production and consumption. How much of the current inventory of oil is being bought as an investment vehicle vs industrial use? You can't get an accurate reading of a market when 90%+ of the market is pure speculative investment.
Oil was under $20 a barrel in 2000. Doubling demand and even a small supply shortage wouldn't have been able to send a barrel to $147. During the entire ramp period there was never actually a supply shortage. Even $50 a barrel under current demand would be a hard sell. The USA has so much spare production capacity, and low demand, that over 50% of refined products are exported. So far the decline in Euro and US demand has offset the increases in China and India. Demand growth that looks to be subsiding.
What would happen if an export ban on refined products, or massive export tariff, was placed on US production? There would be such an immediate oversupply of gasoline and distillates, the price would plummet.
Same goes for nearly every other commodity. Over the past few years volumes in the exchanges have gone off the charts. Corn contracts that used to have monthly volumes in the low thousands now trade over a quarter million contracts a day. There aren't that many actual buyers of corn. How much of the price increase is attributable to market speculation over actual demand?
People who didn't even have gardens bought tulip bulbs because they were told it would make them rich. The massive increase in speculative investment and trading volume caused a massive valuation bubble. Yes at the time it looked like tulip bulbs were in short supply, only because there were more buyers than the supply could handle. Eventually people figured out that the supply was actually adequate for the true intended use of the bulb. You need to plant it eventually, if you can't plant it you're just holding a worthless chunk of matter. Eventually every bubble bursts.
Oil is no exception, the speculative play is that there is far more demand for the product than supply. The problem is the majority of the demand is coming from speculators, not industrial consumption. The reality is there is more than enough supply for the current level of demand. With refineries shutting down and demand dropping every week, eventually speculators will be holding a contract for something they can't actually use, and can't sell. If the central bank printfest stops, the supply of money to purchase ever increasing amounts of equities and commodity contracts stops. Which means there will be far more sellers than buyers, maybe 90% more. What happens then?
Bring back Glass-Steagall Act, for starters. Its is a no-brainer if you read it, and its shocking that Citigroup was there to do their part in removing it in the 1st place.
The act of repealing Glass Steagall legalized SO MUCH of the speculative activity that banks are engaged in right up to today.
Really wallstreet created inflation? War creates inflation through the printing of money to fund it, so who prints the money, Wallstreet? psh
Matt Taibbi was writing about this. It used to not be legal to speculate on the price of commodities, now it is. We have these price shifts on food and oil because of it. Oil should be fazed out, but it shouldn't be manipulated either.
LOL. you think that is expensive? If Americans didn't vote based on oil prices perhaps less children would be getting killed to subsidise oil thru the military budget which you pay thru taxes. I suggest that you should shoot the children directly infront of the gas pump so you can see what you are doing. http://occupywallst.org/forum/family-food-gardens-this-is-the-solution/
The beauty of America is that everything is virtually free, well, except for OIL.
Gas is CHEAP in America, compared to what it really costs. It is subsidized to feed our addiction. Go to any other country and try buying petrol. The price here does not reflect to resources used to get the gas to us.
Resource Based Economy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkRFCtl2MI
gas is at $3 plus because people are willing to pay that or any other price due to addiction... those in the business of providing gas are exactly that, ie, IN THE BUSINESS... stop pointing fingers and reflect
u ever go to rehab for oil. The oil industry buys out our senators to keep oil as our only energy source. Energy Monopoly supported by our senators that are bought out by the oil indsutry.
$3 is high? Tell that to the rest of the world.
have ur mom blow it out of her ahole doesnt negate the facts that unregulated wallstreet is bad for america.
the reason your gas prices are not 1 dollar a gallon like they were 9 years ago is simply because of inflation. To fund war we print money, this process takes value away from the existing money in circulation. Do your homework
r u serious? speculation has made gas and food prices rise. Obamtron shame on you.
so that is why you pay 3 times as much for milk as well? How about bacon speculation? Everything is going up in price due to INFLATION
The average price of Gas 10 years ago was about $1.51 per gallon. Inflation would make that price $1.91 today.
Inflation alone does not account for the Additional $1.09 per gallon price we are seeing. That is due to other factors, including commodity speculation and the anticipated shortages from Iran.
That said, if you factor in all the subsidies, direct and indirect, the tax breaks, etc, to the oil industry, the real price per gas is roughly $10.00 - $11.00 dollars per gallon per every resident of the USA.