Posted on 04/17/2012 11:54:11 AM PDT by robowombat
The White House unveiled a slate of legislative proposals on Tuesday aimed at cracking down on oil market manipulation, as the administration attempts to combat high gasoline prices. The plan calls for a tenfold increase in the maximum civil and criminal penalties that can be applied for the manipulation of oil futures markets, the White House said.
The Obama administration is also calling for Congress to provide more funding to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to increase surveillance and enforcement staff for oil futures market trading. The proposal also calls on the CFTC to be given the power to raise margin requirements in oil futures markets.
The following are comments from oil analysts, politicians and traders on the Obama proposal.
AMY JAFFE, AT RICE UNIVERSITY'S BAKER INSTITUTE IN HOUSTON:
On expanding access to CFTC data: "People like me cannot analyze whether people are manipulating the market or not because they keep the data secret. Their whole rationale for keeping the data secret was that people need their commercial advantage — but people who trade know what everyone's positions are. It's the public who doesn't know.
"Given the financial climate experience we had in 2007 and 2008, wouldn't you want to know whether your bank is really long in the futures market or not?
"It's important in managing a financial crisis to know who is in the market or who isn't if suddenly there is a crisis in oil that is going to take down the banks."
On giving the CFTC power to change margin requirements: "The thing about margin requirements is that when markets are very volatile and they afraid about banks buying too much oil on leverage, it gives them a tool.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneynews.com ...
OMG people there is no plan , he threw out a speech ,did you see him laughing when he went back into the White House
the plan is televised floggings of oil traders, live from Yankee Stadium, if prices don’t start coming down by September.
and this effects overseas traders how? guess they missed that detail...........
0bama can put Bill 0’Reilly in charge of punishing the EEVVIILL speculators. If there is one person who is dumber than 0bama on the subject of economics it is Ted Baxter.
Great job, O. West Texas Intermediate Crude went up a buck and a half today.
Which is completely incompetent clown grandstanding by this corrupt 0 regime. “More cops on the beat” here in the USA would have absolutely NO impact on a global Oil market and do utterly noting to address the price issue
It’s not meant to help. It’s meant to generate revenue and incent the eco-cops to go out there and bust heads. Also to chivvy judges into finding for the gov’t so the fines get paid.
Just another money racket by O.
Buy oil, go to jail. LOL! Sounds like a plan.
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