CFTC Helping Green America with $10 Gas

I'm starting to see the brilliant foresight of the master plan of our current Administration's social engineering program. Eroding liquidity in the energy markets that are easily accessible to hedgers (gas pump operators, airlines, utilities, etc.) who actively need big banks & other investors (speculators) to take the other side of their trades will certainly cause gas prices to spike at the pump, make air travel & shipping the luxury it once was, and ensure that the President is the only one who can keep his office tropically warm in the winter.
Since companies won't be able to put floors on the price of gasoline, natural gas and other commodities their costs will be at the mercy of a very volatile supply and demand and they will have to adjust their prices up to ensure they can still make a profit in any given quarter. That is, until they're nationalized because they can't sustain independent operations anymore and are too big to failll into the wrong hands (like those of a successful foreign company that might fire some US union workers).
This policy will at once force people into buying hybrids and increase the cost of imports (which makes Obama's protectionist allies happy). Of course it would be extremely unpopular to achieve these goals through gas taxes and import tariffs. Making this appear to be a crusade against evil market manipulators makes it far easier to achieve the same results with popular support.
Of course with taxes and tariffs at least the government would make some money to pay back the exponentially expanding debt load, but that's the problem of another generation. At least the Earth they'll inherit will be green, that's good since all their money will be going to interest payments they'll have to learn how to live off the land.

clipped from online.wsj.com CFTC Will Pin '08 Price Surge on Speculators, in a Reversal From Bush Findings. Under Chairman Gary Gensler, appointed by President Barack Obama, the CFTC is departing from the more hands-off approach it took under its previous head, a George W. Bush appointee. During his confirmation process earlier this year, Mr. Gensler said he believed speculation was partly behind the surge in commodity prices. In the U.S., the CFTC begins public hearings Tuesday to determine whether to limit speculative investments in commodities. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, has called on the CFTC to curb "oil speculators looking for a quick buck at the expense of American consumers." [CME Head] Craig Donohue, said: "We are deeply concerned that inappropriate regulation of these markets will cause market participants to move to dark pools and other unregulated markets, causing irrevocable harm to the entire U.S. economy." Last year, CFTC Chief Economist Jeffrey Harris told a House Agriculture subcommittee: "The economic data shows that overall commodity price levels, including agriculture commodity and energy futures prices, are being driven by powerful fundamental economic forces and the laws of supply and demand." Mr. Harris didn't return a call to comment. The acting CFTC chairman at the time, Bush-appointee Walter Lukken, told the House Agriculture committee that CFTC's economists "did not find direct evidence that speculation was driving up prices." Mr. Lukken, now an executive at the New York Stock Exchange, declined to comment. U.K.'s Financial Services Authority has found no evidence that speculators are behind big oil-price swings. The FSA doesn't believe that limiting the size of trading positions would be "beneficial" for the market.

Let's drop the pretense and the trousers.

Apparently the firms that were able to quickly repay the TARP money, with 23% interest to the taxpayers, and immediately turn a profit are not to be praised. Indeed, they are villains of the highest order. Their crime is that they dared to succeed without the government's help and oversight. In fact, those unbridled rapscallions couldn't wait to shake Geithner off the saddle and spit Obama's bit from their foaming mouths.
Naturally, Obama is upset that there's an important sector of the economy he doesn't have full control over - so it's important we quickly pass reform to nationalize everyone, regardless of their financial condition. At least he's finally being forthright about his intentions.

clipped from www.pbs.org JIM LEHRER: Speaking of the economy, do you share the concern and growing anger by some people over the fact that these big Wall Street banks are suddenly making these huge profits while the unemployment rate continues to go up, foreclosures continue to rise, all kinds of other bad things are happening to individual Americans on the economy. PRESIDENT OBAMA: The problem that I've seen ... is you don't get a sense that folks on Wall Street feel any remorse for having taken all these risks; you don't get a sense that there's been a change of culture and behavior as a consequence of what has happened. Now, there are some companies, like Goldman Sachs, that have paid the money back and that means that we don't have the same kind of levers on them that we might have. And that's why I think it's important to pass this broader financial regulatory reform package. Make no bones about it, I am pushing hard.

P.S. If you don't want firms to take irresponsible risks, then maybe you shouldn't let lobbyists tattoo "2Big2Fail" on the back of every lawmaker's skull.

The SEC Puts Family First

The world's most inept regulator may have had more motives than mere stupidity for ignoring the glaring Madoff fraud.
Aside from Markopolous' clear evidence against Madoff, that he spelled out in a way that even community college JDs and analysts at the SEC could understand, their own lawyer found suspiciously mismatched trades and inconsistencies in strategies. Her boss told her to make like Helen Keller, however, because it would create a few awkward moments at his upcoming wedding. I wonder if he'll be kind enough to offer his homeless aunt a couch to crash on.

clipped from www.finalternatives.com A lawyer in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, assigned to look into Madoff’s relationship with hedge funds, told her supervisor that information provided by the now-convicted Ponzi schemer didn’t add up. Walker-Lightfoot’s investigation uncovered a slew of inconsistencies in documents and filings from Madoff. She brought the matter to the attention of her supervisors, one of whom would go on to marry Madoff’s niece. He then told Walker-Lightfoot to hand her Madoff findings over to another SEC lawyer; shortly thereafter, the material was boxed for transfer.