Reply #28: HUGE: Phil Gramm Ties to High Gas Prices

[Octafish]

Thank you, Karenina! The guy's a regular one-note wonder!

HUGE: Phil Gramm Ties to High Gas Prices

by arquebus
Wed May 28, 2008 at 02:47:40 PM PDT

We've all heard by now the links that McCain economic advisor and former Senator Phil Gramm has to the subprime mortgage crisis. In essence, he was a lobbyist for UBS, which worked to deregulate the housing market, which in turn led to the current real estate fiasco. I'm not going to link to the stories; they're essentially common knowledge `round these parts. If you're in the dark on this issue, go see Olbermann's take fraom last night.

However, we now have documented evidence linking Gramm not only to the subprime crisis, but to the massive increase in oil futures trading, and thus the rapid increase in the price of gasoline. Thus, perhaps MAIN economic advisor is linked in no uncertain terms to BOTH causes of the current economic situation in the U.S. I submit that, in a reasonable world, this would sink McCain's campaign, particularly given his oft-quoted remarks about knowing nothing about the economy. If Phil Gramm is the guy he listens to, now we know WHY he's clueless regarding economics.

arquebus's diary :: ::

Here's the deal. Point the First: futures trading is one cause of the current spike in oil prices. That's not me talking, that's the United States House of Representatives, which made the declaration while still in Republican hands:

"There’s a few hedge fund managers out there who are masters at knowing how to exploit the peak theories and hot buttons of supply and demand and by making bold predictions of shocking price advancements to come, they only add more fuel to the bullish fire in a sort of self fulfilling prophecy." — National Gas Week, September 5, 2005 as reprinted in the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations’ report, "The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices," June 27, 2006

We ok so far? The REPUBLICAN House is on record blaming, at least in part, futures trading for high gas prices. This view is supported by the evidence. Diarist Dr Observer quotes a recent Ft. Worth Star-Telegram article thusly:

Does it surprise you to discover that the US Senate investigated the rigging of the oil market by speculators in the summer of 2006 – and concluded that there was no supply and demand problem with oil? Did you know that their conclusion was that speculators were responsible for a 70 percent overcharge in the price of oil in the months leading up to the summer of 2006?

This from page 1 of the Executive Summary of that Senate investigation, there is this one troubling line: "Today, U.S. oil inventories are at an eight-year high, and OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) oil inventories are at a 20-year high."

That’s odd because, in 2006, just like today, the media reporting covered the serious international shortage of oil and justified oil’s high price. Even more troubling is that the House of Representatives held a hearing this past December, ominously titled "Energy Speculation and Price Manipulation."

CONTINUED...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/28/17835/8414/407/524367

These oil baron-cockroaches are discovering there really isn't a rock big enough for them to crawl under.



I am so glad.