Will Obama's Plan to Enforce Oil Market Regulations Lower Gas Prices?
President Obama is urging Congress to bolster efforts to better regulate oil markets. On Tuesday, he asked Congress to approve a $52 million plan that includes a six-fold increase for enforcement staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In addition to putting “more cops on the beat” to oversee the oil market, the president wants to give the CFTC the authority to enforce stricter penalties for businesses that manipulate the oil market, and his plan would fund new technology to provide oversight of the oil market.
“We can’t afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions, while millions of American families get the short end of the stick,” Obama explained.
Proponents of the president’s plan argue that speculators manipulate the oil market to make huge profit while Americans suffer because of the high prices at the pump. They see the increase of CFTC staff and stronger penalties as a good first step to regulate and lower gas prices.
Opponents of the legislation see Obama’s plan as an expensive way to control a free market, and they argue that it will have no effect on gas prices. They say that allowing politics to take over the oil market would be a mistake and that extended CFTC influence would damage the credibility of the market.
Will Obama’s plan to enforce oil market regulations lower gas prices? Here’s the Debate Club’s take:
The Arguments
No — We cannot allow politics to destroy the most transparent oil market in the history of the world
PHIL FLYNN, Vice President, Energy Analyst and General Market Analyst with PFGBEST Comment (2)
Yes — President Obama's plan would stop speculators from driving up prices to make a quick profit
DANIEL J. WEISS, Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy for the Center for American Progress Action Fund Comment (5)
No — Reducing market participation will not impact the fundamentals of supply and demand
JOHN KILDUFF, Partner at Again Capital Comment (2)
No — President Obama's proposal to enforce oil market regulations is irrelevant
ANDREW HOLLAND, Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate at the American Security Project Comment (2)
Yes — President Obama is taking important steps to close dangerous loopholes
EDWARD J. MARKEY, U.S. Representative Comment (19)
