If Warren,Yellen, Sanders, Reid really gave a damn, they would bring up oil speculation every day

[J_J_]

Janet Yellen thinks we need to save money?

It might be a lot easier if gas were $1 per gallon instead of $4.

Perhaps if Congress hadn't been lobbied by the Koch brothers to allow speculation, we would all have a lot more money to put away in savings.

People who are rich have no idea how much a difference gas prices make, it is nothing to them.

But I'm paying $300 per month in gas just to get to work. then the increase in heating bills, and food/goods increases due to transportation costs....

all so the Koch brothers can make more money.

Harry Reid always talks about the Koch brothers, does he bring up oil speculation?

Sanders is the only one who talks about it, but not often enough to bring it to mass consciousness. He needs to talk about it every day in his presidential run.

even Goldman Sachs now admits that at least $27 of the price of crude oil is a result from reckless speculation rather than market fundamentals of supply and demand. Many experts interviewed by ThinkProgress argue that the figure is far higher, and out of control speculation has doubled the current price of crude oil.

How Koch Became An Oil Speculation Powerhouse
From Inventing Oil Derivatives To Deregulating The Market
http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/


Can you imagine how angry everyone would be if they knew why they were paying so much?

Even Republicans! They don't love much, but they do love their money and these assholes have been ripping everyone off big time.

[J_J_]

1. Koch is on the level of transnational big banks

– 2008: Rampant oil speculation spikes prices to unprecedented levels. As academics from the Peterson Institute, the James Baker Institute at Rice University, and others conclude, non-commercial speculators begin to dominate the market, forcing up prices. Although the evidence was abundant that speculators caused the massive price spikes during the summer of 2008, regulators were toothless to act. A bipartisan majority in the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to award powers to the CFTC to oversee rampant oil speculation, but Republican in the Senate — acting with help from Koch lobbyists — killed the bill, called the Energy Markets Emergency Act.

– 2009: Koch presentation to ICE boasts that Koch is on the level of transnational big banks and can now be considered one of the world’s top five oil speculators. The presentation, and our analysis, can be found here. Of course, Koch is not the only large corporation engaged in this practice. Large investors, like pension funds, hedge funds, investment banks, and others flocked to the commodities market after the financial crisis of 2008 and the collapse of mortgage-backed securities.

[J_J_]

2. This is what happened to our savings Janet!

[J_J_]

3. 3 years later... "Koch Brothers Net Worth Soars Past $100 Billion"

Koch Brothers Net Worth Soars Past $100 Billion


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/koch-brothers-net-worth_n_5163010.html

and they are still complaining that their prosperity is under attack...

[J_J_]

4. Koch Brothers’ Wealth Grew By $33 Billion in 3 Years As America’s Schools Report 1 Million Homeless

Koch Brothers’ Wealth Grew By $33 Billion in 3 Years As America’s Schools Report 1 Million Homeless Kids

http://wallstreetonparade.com/2013/04/koch-brothers-wealth-grew-by-33-billion-in-3-years-as-americas-schools-report-1-million-homeless-kids/

[Initech]

14. They are greedy thieves that need to be prosecuted.

[world wide wally]

5. It never ceases to amaze me how the oil conglomerates, banks, and Republicans

are able to sell excessive greed to average Americans and poor people.

[Amonester]

7. NFL NBA American Idol Dancing With The Stars Twitter

facebook

[ErikJ]

6. I kind of wish it would go much higher

Oil is limited and it wont last forever and we need to get off oil anyway becuse of global warming which is a much much bigger problem for the whole planet.

[abelenkpe]

8. They should bring up offshoring of US jobs too

Can't be a good consumer of anything without a decent well paying secure job.

[pnwmom]

9. If we could stop speculation here, would we stop it on the worldwide market where oil is sold? n/t

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. It could be addressed through ...

{whispering} Trade Agreements.

Oh ... never mind ...

[pnwmom]

16. LOL.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

10. I remember when gas was a dollar and at the time I was digging for gas money in

the sofa cushions.

I can't even imagine what it must be like today for someone in that situation. It was hard enough to find a dollar in change, imagine having to dig for $4 instead!

[truedelphi]

11. Bernanke also helped out with the price of oil doubling.

And for his efforts he was re-appointed by the man in the Oval Office.

[1StrongBlackMan]

13. How did Bernanke help out with the price of oil doubling? eom

[AZ Progressive]

15. This is actually quite a bit of a complicated issue

If gas prices go up, gas demand goes down, gas usage goes down, which is better for the environment. American gasoline is already heavily discounted compared to other countries. Cars are woefully impractical compared to other modes of transportation.

The real problem is the suburban lifestyle that came to be in part because of cheap gasoline. People could afford to live farther and farther away from cities and job centers because of cheap gasoline, and now such people are suffering because of higher prices of gasoline. If gas prices were high to begin with, there would at least be suburbs centralized around train stations, and cities that started growing fast during the postwar period would've been densifying significantly.

Also, I believe that the tar sands are profitable now because of the higher price of gasoline that allows the excavators to make a profit, keeping a plentiful amount of oil. Cheap oil would make the amount of oil supplies go lower and make us more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.


Gas prices were hovering at $1.96 in 2004 (just before they started to rise drastically), it would be the equivalent of $2.47 today.