House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices

[Robbien]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

. . .

The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.

The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.

"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules -- instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWAT00953020080520

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Bill restricts investigation to OPEC. No instruction to investigate US hedge fund market speculators. US hedge fund market speculators have better lobbyists than OPEC it appears.

[spotbird]

1. Windfall profits tax would matter

this is just silly.

[mdmc]

33. agreed

:kick:

[Captain Angry]

2. That'll show Canada and Mexico...

Oh, wait, they're not members, yet two of our larger suppliers.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

And as you rightly noted, Wall Street needs a look more than OPEC on this one.

[ToughLuck]

3. what a bunch of bullshit idiots these folks are. Who are they kidding.

[hatrack]

4. Christ, the energy policy equivalent of hearings on the New England Patriots stealing signals

Whatever lies beyond pathetic, this is it.

[lse7581011]

5. Just Got A Letter In Today's Mail

to prebuy heating oil for next winter is $4.49 per gallon. Last year I used 800 gallons and paid $2.39! Now what!?

[Skink]

8. start hedging now.

[lse7581011]

10. I'm Sorry

I don't understand how to do that? I'm still in shock!

[Skink]

17. Buy up fuel like you are SW airlines.

[RL3AO]

6. Yeah. That'll lower oil prices.

:eyes:

[Speck Tater]

7. OPEC doesn't give a shit what we think of them.

If we annoy them enough they'll just sell all their oil to China and India.

[superconnected]

9. "But the white house threatened to veto the measure". Hard to believe repukes

support this crook.

[denverbill]

11. I don't understand the attitude on this thread.

OPEC is a cartel. They meet regularly to discuss production, and limit production to keep prices high. They've been doing so since they have existed, more or less successfully, depending on whether or not Saddam was secretly selling oil on the side.

If the world's coal mining companies came together and decided to limit production to X tons per month, they would most definitely be taken to court and sued for collusion and price fixing. Threatening to collect economic damages from Saudi Arabia, Iran, et al, would, at minimum, give them a wake up call and encourage them to open the spigots.

As we saw with the California 'energy crisis' a few years back, yes, speculators did play a role, but many of the 'speculators' did, in fact, work for the exact same companies that were benefiting from the speculative trading.

[pinerow]

14. And pigs will fly shortly thereafter...

:beer:

[darue]

29. a cartel is needed to manage a limited precious resource

[Joe Chi Minh]

31. It sure is precious to Big Oil.

[pinerow]

12. To what end...

seems like a circle jerk to me...Sheesh!!!

[dipsydoodle]

13. Seems extremely ill considered to me.

given that part of the incease is due to the fall in the value of the US$. if nothing else it could push OPEC into rejecting the petrodollar system. The current price does reflect the general model of supply and demand - it just gets fucked up by the hedge funds.

[dmosh42]

15. I do see something positive in this....

First, the DOJ has been telling Congress to go f___ themselves in their requests for investigations. So now they will need to give a definite answer to the House. With Bush against any action, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Secondly, because there are apparently some bipartisan support, it will open the breech for some Republicans in election year. At least they're actually doing something!

[scisyhp1]

16. How about suing the Fed instead for

defacing the value of the national currency to the point where
it takes 130 units of it to buy a single barrel of oil? Or, better yet,
suing the legislature for adopting annual budgets with such deficits,
that the Fed had no choice but to deface the national currency in order
to keep the charade going? Then someone could at least sue them out of office,
if electing representatives capable of balancing the budget by raising taxes
or cutting military spending is so totally unfeasible.

[roamer65]

24. Thank You!!!

High oil prices are simply a symptom of the Fed's monetary inflation. You are correct!

[JohnnyCougar]

25. Thank you, again.

This isn't OPEC's fault.

[mac2]

36. The oil CEOs and corporate influnences are to blame not OPEC

[mdmc]

18. lip service

either conserve and reduce consumption, or pay.
Please also go after the oil speculators, if it won't hurt your campaign fund-raising too much:mad:

[KansDem]

19. They can't even get Karl Rove in to testify...

How the Hell are they going to take on the whole mideast oil cartel?

[mac2]

37. They lack the will to enforce our laws.

[dysfunctional press]

20. like everything else- oil is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

ain't capitalism COOL? :shrug:

[cliss]

21. Sue OPEC?

Yeah that ought to go over real well.....like the Junkie threatening his supplier.

So let's say they get the bill passed, and they sue OPEC. OPEC will LOVE that....they'll sell their precious oil to---India, China, Europe....anyone but the U.S.

It doesn't matter to them. In fact, the Saudis will get their revenge on Bush. It seems they're a little upset because the Sunni's in Iraq are getting killed.

[LiberteToujours]

22. This is a remarkably boneheaded move

I can think of only two reasons for why Congress would pass such a measure. They are clueless about what is really going on, or they do not have the courage to tell the truth.

In all likelihood, OPEC is refusing to increase output because they simply can't do it. They have reached Peak Oil, and now their production rates will begin to slowly lower each year. The remaining oil will become more expensive (both dollar-wise and energy-wise) to extract. That, or they have calculated that the rest of the world has hit Peak Oil and they are keeping some supplies for themselves to be able to deal with the coming crisis. In either case, it's their oil and they can do whatever the hell the want with it.

This move by Congress is nothing more than a cowardly face-saving gesture to give the appearance that "somebody is doing something" about oil prices. There is no honesty, no frank discussion, no straightforwardness with the American people about why oil prices are truly so high. A week ago it was the speculators' fault, and now it's OPEC. It's just another blame game, and it's only going to make the coming crisis that much more painful. If we don't all start talking seriously about our oil problem very soon, it's going to be 500mph into a brick wall. Enough of the politics and the pandering.

Then again, any politician who tells the truth about energy policy will never get elected in the US. People would rather elect someone who tells them what they want to hear. So, the people have chosen this fate for themselves. So in a way it's not really fair to blame Congress, they're nothing more than a reflection of our collective will. The will to distract ourselves from our problems endlessly and look anywhere but at ourselves.

[Jersey Ginny]

23. Pandering in a pathetic way

Middle eastern countries want to pump as much oil as they possibly can at these historically high prices. They simply CAN'T pump more oil. Shame on congress for this kind of Terry Schiavo-esque thoughtless pandering.

[JohnnyCougar]

26. This is BS.

For once, I am going to agree with Bush. This bill should be vetoed. We have no ground to stand on. Oil prices are partially our fault for devaluing the dollar and building a country low on oil reserves but highly dependent on oil.

Sorry, but this is America's fault. It won't stop until we wise up and get seriously green.

[meow2u3]

27. The House is suing the wrong people

They should be suing the oil company executives and the speculators who are jacking up the oil prices--not just OPEC.

[darue]

28. insane. please tell me this assinine stunt wasn't a dem idea?

god forbid we sue the speculators that actually control the price. this is shameful and an embarrassing move by our party, for god sake, I agree with bush on this.

[4dsc]

30. TRY INVESTIGATING THE HEDGE FUNDS

that are driving up the price of oil!! Fuck OPEC, they don't controll the price of oil.. Stupid congress people...

[Joe Chi Minh]

32. I love the way Republicans call any just redress of their pillaging

a stunt! Trouble is they're jealous that no-one would believe them if they offered to implement such socially-responsible measures, whether in the form of windfall taxes or any other claw-backs from the super rich.

[bemildred]

34. Pure political theater.

Even if you win a judgement, how are you going to collect?

[defendandprotect]

35. NATIONALIZE OIL -- Electric Cars . . . !!!1

[paparush]

38. Next, they'll probably going to sue the polar ice caps for melting.

[mdmc]

39. I was very proud of the replies here on DU

God bless!