Taking aim at speculators

Taking aim at speculators | Peak Oil News and Message Boards: The effort to pressure the CFTC was led by Sanders...

Vermont’s congressional delegation is once again taking aim at Wall Street speculators as a major culprit in driving up prices at the pump — prices that are likely to spike well above $4 a gallon this summer. But casting investment banks and hedge funds as the sole villains isn’t so black and white, said two oil industry analysts, who point out that geopolitical and industry factors also come into play. Sens. Bernard Sanders and Patrick Leahy, along with Rep. Peter Welch, were among 68 Senate and House members who put their signatures on a letter last week urging the Commodities Future Trading Commission to put in place rules to curb excessive speculation. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was signed into law two years ago mandated that the five-member Commodities Future Trading Commission come up with rules that rein in excessive speculati...

Full article: http://peakoil.com/consumption/taking-aim-at-speculators/