Posted on 06/22/2008 9:58:46 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama calls for oil crackdown By: Mike Allen June 22, 2008 12:39 PM EST
With the cost of gas a top issue in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama on Sunday will announce a plan to crack down on oil speculation by tightening regulations on energy traders.
The announcement is further evidence that an Obama administration would take an activist, populist approach to regulating business.
Obama wants to close a loophole in federal law that exempts some energy traders from regulations that govern other exchange-traded commodities. Democrats call this “the Enron loophole” because it benefited the Houston energy-speculation firm that collapsed in an accounting scandal.
The Obama campaign accuses Phil Gramm — the former U.S. senator from Texas, who’s now a McCain campaign co-chair and economic adviser — of helping insert the exemption. Gramm's wife, Wendy, was a member of the Enron board of directors.
So today’s announcement — in an early-afternoon conference call featuring New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine — allows the Obama campaign to both side with consumers and take a whack at McCain’s brain trust.
Obama said in a statement: “My plan fully closes the Enron Loophole and restores common-sense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Or does he not know that we are only a part of the world and his fiat will not extend to the rest of the world?
I suspect that he does, and that he has another agenda.
I think my license plate means I will get gas on even days of the month.
It was odd and even during the 70’s if I remember correctly.
But, sadly, not as dumb as many voters who will hear "Enron" and vote Dem. The Dems are really good at finding words that persuade, even if misleading. It's scary.
yeah, this is a great “populist” approach. I can just see explaining it in a soundbite. I suppose it’ll be “Enron, Enron , Enron”... but then they’ll have to explain what Enron was and I doubt most people got that either.
I wonder if this rookie Senator is doing drugs or just starting to believe his own press releases about him being a true messiah. His “ideas” are dumb. REALLY REALLY DUMB.
Naw, all the Dems have a problem with large scale situations. As far as Obama and his crowd are concerned the rest of the world is just another Chicago suburb.
Another Obamanation - Restoring the Soviet Union one step at a time.
Yup, that’s gonna work. His next suggestion will be to eliminate the requirement for aircraft fuel. We can just tie ropes to our shoes, lift ourselves up by pulling the ropes, and lean in the direction we want to go. He really is dumber than Pelosi and Reid (if such a feat is possible).
What needs a crackdown is the out of control liberals and environmentalists who refuse to drill and have not created one refinery in 2 decades; and that includes Obama.
Unbelievealbly stupid,sad thing is his group will all get in line.....for a dip of the koolaid.
I have no doubts if this dunce is elected by 2012 we’ll have $8 a gallon gas, 12% unemployment and one or more major attacks on our soil by terrorists.
Now that’s CHANGE you can count on.
Yes you can.
Swift boated.
Obama, you fool.
Obama’s strategy to counter McCain’s new advantage re the topic of drilling for oil is, predictably, to use a variation on stirring class envy.
I dare you, all you democrats, to stick with your opposition to domestic oil production.
From $4 a gallon gasoline to no gasoline in no time flat!
Barack Obama is dumber than Jimmy Carter combined.
Not dumb. Interestingly, the Saudi oil minister blamed speculation 3 or 4 days ago. Barry’s just following the line handed to him by his bosses.
If you read up on the Enron “loophole” and its history (to include how energy exec’s drove up California energy costs)...you start to ask some really stupid questions about how this was created and who was connected to this in congress...and one of the chief campaign supporters of McCain was a key player (Texas Phil Gramm). I don’t think the Enron “loophole” is a positive....and it certainly doesn’t help anyone except drain their pocket and bank account faster. Course....if McCain says the Enron “loophole” is a super positive for America....it must be so...right?
Hey, Marxism worked for the Soviet Union, why not here?
Wow. Dumb. Even for a Democrat.
Behold, the Marxist speaks. I already dislike this guy far more than I ever disliked Slick Willy.
Well, there may not be any gasoline, but at least it will be cheap.
Let us see world wide consumption is 85 million barrels a day. US consumption is about 21 Million—sometimes up to 25 million—with 7 million being domestic production.
Drill for more. Drill now. Keep on drilling and do those 35 uranium driven power stations.
“common sense regulation.” Good thing I’m already sitting down.
***if this dunce is elected by 2012 we’ll have $8 a gallon gas, 12% unemployment and one or more major attacks on our soil by terrorists.***
I have no doubt. The problem is the media will still tout Obama as the great president ever and any criticism of him to be racism. Plus when President Obama stumbles, the media will air stories of corruption by Bush and claim that all problems are Bush’s fault. Obama needs 8 years to cleanup.
No he's not ... he's following a plan designed to enslave America in political machinery, social (re)indoctrination/engineering, financial ruin for the individual ... oops ... I think here is the crux of the matter ... we are becoming a name tag and not an e pluribus unum.
Not long ago Mich said that Barak would run a nation where it was expected that everyone would have to make personal changes in their lives and work for their nation (or words to that effect).
Seems to me we will have a true, controlled populace a la fahrenheit 212 (or whatever the number is ...) no one will be allowed to develop on their own and any semblance of a free individual will be erased from the "American" experience.
I know in some small circles I am aware/part of ... a revolt is developing in the hearts of patriots.
It's going to be ugly, imo .. before this is all over.
Obama: proof that you can run for the office of president without having a clue.
Yes, because the traders are the problem.
Probably more like $18/gallon gas. We could see $8 within a year, if things keep going the way they have.
My license plate ends in “B” (letters end truck plates here in Washington State). I guess I don’t get to buy gas!
You, sir, are an optimist.
When do we change out name from United States of America to Zimbabwe West?
******
As the new economic policy director on Senator Obama's presidential bid, Jason Furman
The fears that Mr. Furman is a front for Mr. Rubin are driven by Mr. Furman's appointment in 2006 to oversee the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project, an economic policy research shop set up by Mr. Rubin and other former Clinton aides.
Jason Furman was the behind-the-scenes hero of the defeat of George Bush's 2005 Social Security privatization plan.
* Jason Furman's mother, Gail, is a renowned child psychologist and a donor to Democratic candidates and causes. Mr. Furman serves as secretary of a family foundation headed by his mother that supports mostly left-leaning nonprofit groups. Federal filings shows that the foundation's largest grants in 2006 went to a leadership-development group affiliated with the San Francisco-based Tides Center, the Council on American Life; the Auburn Theological Seminary in Manhattan; and a Washington-based organization aimed at ferreting out conservative bias in the press, Media Matters for America.
Other economic advisers include:
Austan Goolsbee - columnist for Slate.com and the NY Times, as well as a standup comedian
David Cutler, a Harvard economist who was also an adviser to Bill Clinton
Jeffrey Liebman, a Harvard economist who was an adviser to Bill Clinton
Obama's other economic advisers: Robert Reich (former Clinton Labor Secretary), Jared Bernstein (labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute), and Paul Volcker (Federal Reserve)
******
Obama's most influential foreign policy advisers--former Clinton officials like Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, and National Security Advisor Tony Lake amd recently added former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
I think he'd say to you, "I will do more than repeat the failed policies of GWB. I will work with the world to create fair futures markets that won't exploit the average American." HEHE ;-p
I was odd days. I remember leaving the house at 4:00 AM so I could get through the gas lines in time to get to work at 8:00. We would sit in our cars shivering ... couldn't run the engines to keep warm because we were only going to be allowed a few gallons of gasoline when we got to the pump.
I worked at a zoo. A lot of exotic animals died because we couldn't heat the buildings.
I think it depends on the level of ethanol contamination in the gasoline.
This will happen again I'm afraid, what with road rage, this is just another reason to get crazy.
I agree that is the change we will get!
While the speculator IS an aspect to oil/gas prices, it is not a solution in itself. By drilling/refining/nuking, and by being serious about it, the speculators will go bankrupt in short order, as prices plummet on the REAL threat to them: more domestic oil/gas to be factored into futures prices.
Now remember kids, Government control of privately owned business is called what?
Yes that's right, Fascism.
Then when that drives the economy further down the tubes the nationalization of private businesses begins and that's called what?
Yes that's right, Communism.
Change, it's a two step process.
Vote Obama and do the socialist two step.
Can someone who understands the futures market explain this “Enron loophole”? Should it be plugged? I’m ignorant enough that researching it would be fruitless.
Seriously, how did it come to pass that this Marxist might be our next president?
You have to remember that the socialists have been grooming the populace for 50 years just for this.
Kill the free market in oil?
$5.00 a gallon will be a bargain when Obama gets through with us.
Obama’s solution to the energy crisis: Increase taxes, raise prices, destroy inventives to increasing supply, issue executive order to restrict consumption.
Dumber than a sack of hammers....
The left is highly motivated, while the right is mildly interested.
You know, every time McCain convinces me to sit this one out, Obama or Hillary convince me to get back in. Then McCain convinces me to ...
I’m going out to get a basket for my bicycle.
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