Home > Debate Club > Will Obama's Plan to Enforce Oil Market Regulations Lower Gas Prices? > Ed Markey: We Cannot Let Market Manipulation Drive Up Oil Prices

Ed Markey: We Cannot Let Market Manipulation Drive Up Oil Prices

President Obama is taking important steps to close dangerous loopholes

Reader Comments
Back to argument

The idea of speculators purchasing oil futurs and artificialy raising prices does not seem plausable. One big reason is high cost storing large quantities of oil. Although speculators dont actually take possesion of the oil the cost of storage woul be passed on to them, this would cancell out the profits very fast.

m reed of MI 9:51PM December 14, 2012

You have to understand that Markey is not making the points about oil/gas prices and speculators for those who know something about the markets and economics, he is making those points to sway people with no knowledge and no desire to educate themselves about same. The average voter just wants to remain blissfully ignorant and vote for someone who tells them they will make it all better even though the voter knows in their gut that he/she is being treated as a child. Politicians just want to be loved, worshiped and most important, reelected. They can only get that if the average voter has turned off their brain and relinquished their liberty.

frdmbased of KY 5:24PM April 21, 2012

this is such drivel, from a man that knows better, and ought to behave better than as a partisan shill. just like TARP was going to bring unemployment sub 8% in a year (whoops), this witch hunt will have ZERO effect on the price of gas. I don't know if anything would, but I do know this. A long time ago, the left decided that it was appropriate to make our own resources off limits (because we can't spare 1% of the alaskan wilderness), that it was better to send money to the middle east, let brazil do our environmental dirty work, et al. Had we been able to pursue our own resources freely, maybe it would be a bit better for us now. It is a world market, so it's hard to say. But for sure, the arguments put forth here are drivel, and I loathe the impostor in the whitehouse even a little bit more for it.

sub of SC 8:05AM April 21, 2012

Seriously!? Speculators?? That is what these geniuses haveidentified as the problem!?

I suppose these speculators are not present when the market is trading off?

So let me understand this, speculators buy a lot of oil futures to push the price up. Now they are long oil. How do they profit? They have to sell oil at some point. When they do that, won't they depress oil prices by the same amount, netting no profit?

What am I missing here? I'm actively involved in the derivatives market but I do not see it. And none of the people I know see it, and I know a lot of traders. Obama must know more based on his deep experience in business and trading.

frankly, his position here only reinforces that he knows noting about business or economics but has a cynical mastery of politics.

CommonSensePost of CT 1:01AM April 21, 2012

Folks, manipulators can only drive up prices when the supply is limited. Then they can use ever little disruption or scare to run up the price. However, that can only be temporary, and the real underlying cause that allows them to do that, and that drives up prices longer term is tight supply and demand. Obama by killing all new exploration and drilling everywhere since he took office has insure tighter supplies which have forced prices up and enable the manipulators to play their games. Obama is a total disaster at every level of our economy!

valwayne of CO 11:59PM April 20, 2012

Are there speculators in the market when oil prices are going up?

Democrat's answer: Yes they are!

Can we now claim that these same speculators being accused of driving prices up are also responsible for driving oil prices down when the price of oil falls?

Democrat's answer: No they aren't....

The truth.... Barry and band of merry libs haven't done anyhting in the energy area other than making sure his political buddies (the ones that give him lots and lots of cash) don't lose any money in the renewable energy area (like.... Solyndra....).

Barry's energy policy may be good for his pals.... not so good for the rest of us...

Dan Culton of MO 10:59PM April 20, 2012

Are there speculators in the market when oil prices are going down?

Democrat's answer: Yes they are!

Can we now claim that these same speculators being accused of driving prices up are also responsible for driving oil prices down when the price of oil falls?

Democrat's answer: No they aren't....

The truth.... Barry and band of merry libs haven't done anyhting in the energy area other than making sure his political buddies (ones that give him lots and lots of cash) don't lose any money in the renewable energy area (like.... Solyndra....).

Barry's energy policy may be good for his pals.... not so good for the rest of us...

Dan Culton of MO 10:55PM April 20, 2012

Bad energy policy drives up prices. People see bad policy and they buy what they think are inexpensive energy products. Manipulation or common sense? If Obama is really against this, there are plenty of things that can be done to "toast the trader." Like loose energy policies.

Stev of CA 10:54PM April 20, 2012

It's amazing that a lawyer is also a financial expert. Anyone with basic financial knowledge knows this is another political gimmick I know it may come as a shock that a limited resource that everyone wants is rising in price. It's reminds me of the Chris Rock joke.

"I never seen a crack dealer say "How am I going to get rid of all this crack?" The people who are buying the oil, with their own money by the way, are betting that Green energy, at least in the near term, is a sham. IF they are wrong they will lose a lot of money. Of course this is the same guy who thinks yo can provide health care to 30 million people for nothing.

CHI_ED of IL 7:49PM April 20, 2012

Foolish prattle and more of the class warfare we have come to expect from the democrats. There is always an evil scapegoat for them to blame when you need look no further than their anti-energy policies. No to pipelines, no to drilling, no to refineries, no to nuclear energy, no no no.

Speculators always have to close the contract and if the price of oil is not what they thought it would be when the contract ends, they lose big. They have no power to push prices one way or the other - they are just hedging the future.

CebVa of VA 7:33PM April 20, 2012

1 2 >