ACTION NEEDED: Contact Dingell re Gas Prices

[rosesaylavee]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3364358

Here at DU, I think we have an opportunity here. We are several thousand strong. Perhaps if many of us were to contact Dingell to STOP GASOLINE SPECULATION NOW we and perhaps other blogs would be able to move Congress into action.

Dingell chairs the Committee on Energy and Commerce and has been hearing testimony this week regarding the gas speculation bubble and how these damn speculators are increasing the costs we pay at the pump and getting rich on our pain. More info at the thread link above.

Additionally, we may suggest a hearing looking into the possible criminality involved if the market has been manipulated to rise to this level. (After Enron, nothing surprises me.)

Contact Representative Dingell at:

Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

[phone]

And email form here: http://energycommerce.house.gov/membios/contact_form.shtml

Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My email note:
I understand you listened to the testimony this week of Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management and it is his assertion that given the proper legislation curbing energy speculation that gasoline prices would plummet to half the price per gallon currently.

What is your next step to see that this happens? How long will it take for Congress to act on this?

Thank you for a prompt reply.

[Barack_America]

1. I believe it's "Dingell". nt

[rosesaylavee]

4. Thanks!

Thanks for catching so I could still fix.

:blush:

[Barack_America]

6. No problem. Being from Michigan, I'm rather familiar with him.

And I'll be sending him an e-mail!

:hi:

[rosesaylavee]

7. I think he can act quickly if motivated.

This can't be good for Michigan and the car industry overall. Coming from you, as a resident, he will take special note.

Thanks for the effort!

[norepubsin08]

2. Done

Done

[rosesaylavee]

8. Thanks!

And welcome to DU!

:hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. There was some very interesting testimony at these hearings.

Check this out -- an airline CEO testified that they need to close the "Enron loophole" and start regulating oil futures trading, right now.

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/06/23...

Here's the most interesting part:

Steenland said worldwide daily demand for oil has increased just about 2 percent over the past 12 months, while fuel prices have jumped more than 100 percent over the same period.

"Supply and demand fundamentals alone do not explain the price increases and volatility experienced in the energy markets," Steenland said.

A major cause of this disconnect, Steenland says, is an increase in speculative investments in the futures markets by financial institutions such as pension funds, investment banks and hedge funds. He said that in March, the volume of speculative trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange covered 1.2 billion barrels of oil on an average day, about 13 times greater than the actual amount of oil consumed around the world.

Steenland said this volume of speculative activity is excessive, and that additional regulation is necessary because it "has placed upward pressure on oil prices irrespective of market fundamentals."

In other words, far more oil is being traded than actually is being consumed -- so it's not the normal hedging (forward contracting) that's been done for years, it's the speculative, Enron-type trading of a commodity that doesn't actually exist and might never exist, a practice that was illegal until the CFTC changed their rules for Enron back in 2000.

[rosesaylavee]

5. Yeah - I smell a rat

And I didn't even get to listen to the hearings. It just doesn't make sense.

WHO benefits? Ha. We know that answer. And now we have all these numbskulls calling for off shore drilling now. Like that is going to do anything to help the underlying problem. Just will lined more oilman's pockets.

ENOUGH already!