DAMN the GOP!! What is their problem???

[baghdad_bush]

Partisan fight kills bill to curb oil speculation, Whitehouse blames GOP

Congressional gridlock Friday killed a bill aimed at providing relief to consumers at the pump.

The end result means Americans will get little, if any, relief from gasoline costs from the government during this Congressional session.

The bill, the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act - sponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and supported by the Rhode Island Congressional delegation, which would have placed limits on traders who don’t intend to actually physically trade petroleum products, failed to garner the 60 votes required to break a Republican filibuster. The Democrats could only garner 50 votes.

The bill would have also enhanced the size, scope and authority of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), forced oil traders to trade through intermediaries and created study groups to monitor the commodities markets.

Rhode Island Congressmen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and James Langevin (D-RI), a Dean of the Business School at the University of Rhode Island and a Republican financial planner all said regulations of oil speculators would bring down energy prices. And late last week, the CEO’s of all of America’s major airlines sent out an open letter supporting the crackdown on “excessive speculation.”

Although most Republican Senators agree that speculation needs to be subject to stricter regulations, they refused to allow the bill to move forward as long as it didn’t contain amendments allowing for the expansion of drilling in the United States. The Republicans argued that increasing the supply could only do one thing to oil prices; bring them down.

Polls showed the American public agrees with the Republicans on that issue. A Zogby Poll released late last month found 74 percent of those asked said they supported offshore drilling and 59 percent supported drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). Numerous other polls found similar results.

But the Democrats refused to include amendments that would have allowed for additional drilling in the U.S., saying oil companies already contain leases on 68 million acres of undeveloped federal oil reserves, which they are currently warehousing.

During a telephone interview on Friday afternoon, Whitehouse said the bill’s failure was a loss for Americans needing relief at the gas pump, and blamed the situation on the Republicans.

“We got defeated this time trying to help American consumers even though the Republicans said the policy was a sound one,” said Whitehouse.

Whitehouse said experts have testified that excessive speculation has increased the current price of oil by anywhere from $30 to $60 per barrel. The letter released by the airline executives, whose companies have been squeezed by jet fuel prices, cited similar statistics in their letter.

Effective curbs need to be placed on speculators in all commodity markets, Whitehouse said. Whitehouse said the government couldn’t forget about the Hunt brothers, who in the ’70s came dangerously close to—if not actually—cornering the silver market.

Robert Cusack, the chief investment officer for Preferred Asset Management LLC, located in Providence, said excessive speculation most likely has increased prices, but warned that too much government interference into the market can have disastrous consequences.

Excess speculation, Cusack said, does make prices in the short term less stable, and less reflective of equilibrium between buyers and sellers. And like Whitehouse, Cusack believes the government needs to protect the public from the likes of the Hunt brothers from cornering the market on a commodity.

But he also said speculators are vital to the oil market and warned against the government intervention, which he believes always contains unintended consequences.

“Congress has a habit of acting in a rash way without considering the consequences of their actions. They have a lot of power and they want a quick fix, which makes them apt to impose the sledgehammer method of fixing things,” said Cusack, a Republican East Providence councilman.

As an example, Cusack pointed to the windfall profits tax on oil companies, proposed by some Democrats. That, he said, would make the economic situation worse, not better.

That being said, Cusack believes a law that would prevent entities from buying more than a certain amount of energy contracts could be effective in keeping prices low and stable. But Cusack said that would only be one effective step.

Like most of his fellow party members, Cusack believes the country should drill for more domestic oil in the short run, while developing alternative energy sources in the long run.

Cusack also said that over speculation in the oil market could eventually lead to a crash, with those investors who paid more for oil than it was actually worth losing money.

Whitehouse believes the Republican position that the country should permit more oil drilling is an example of the Republicans kowtowing to special interests, and reciting the talking points of Exxon Mobile.

“We’ve got two oilmen in the White House and as a result, gas prices have just about tripled over the last eight years. Now, we’ve got the same exact people, who have been listening to the oil companies all along, come back and say we’ve got to drill for more oil,” Whitehouse said.

“There’s a really bitter irony here,” said Whitehouse.

Whitehouse pointed out that the oil companies have plenty of oil reserves they could drill on, but aren’t.

But why would the greedy oil executives choose not to drill when there is money to be made?

“It’s like money in the bank for them,” said Whitehouse. “And it’s a way for us to allow them to drill for more.”

Edward Mazze, the Dean of the University of Rhode Island School of Business Administration, said curbing speculation would likely reduce prices.

“The traders would understand that the government is serious about regulating, and that should cut down on some of the shenanigans,” said Mazze.

“All they’re doing is trading paper and hoping no one asks for the real product.”

But like Cusack, he said the government should be thoughtful about imposing regulations. For instance an outright price control, he said, could have the effect of diminishing supply.

Yesterday, Langevin told reporters that he supported a piece of legislation “use it or lose it” that would force oil companies to explore and drill on the leases they hold, or eventually give them up.

Langevin said he agreed with the Democrat-controlled Congress attempts to “ down on speculators and get them out of the market.”

Langevin also said he would support more domestic drilling.

“Certainly more drilling has to be part of the equation,” said Langevin.

But he also said that drilling should be first done on the leases the companies hold.

(7/30/2008)
- By RUSSELL J. MOORE, Warwick Beacon, RI

http://www.zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=18001

[guitar man]

1. their problem is

They have been bought and paid for by the aristocratic class in this country and will do anything to ensure that class gets even more filthy rich no matter what it costs the rest of us. :grr:

[atreides1]

4. You have a point

But you forgot to point out the stupid idiots who believe that the oil companies will actually drill for more oil and keep it here in the US, not send it to Asian markets like they already do.

Also, it would seem that all of these pollsters are failing to point out the fact that oil companies already have leases to drill but have failed to do so.

So, the real problem is the bought and paid for politicians, a basically brain dead constituency, and pollsters who are paid to only ask half assed questions.

[guitar man]

5. exactly

The media has been asleep at the switch as far as informing the public as to the intentions of the oil companies. The word needs to get out that they want to drill that oil and put it on the global market rather than keep it here and sell it on the domestic market at a reasonable price.

That's not just greedy, it's downright unpatriotic of them. :grr:

[annabanana]

7. The media isn't "asleep at the switch". It is complicit. It wouldn't be HARD

to note, (during the endless "non-coverage" of the issue) just exactly who the "we" is in "We have to be able to drill more offshore and in Alaska". . .


By leaving it like that, they leave the impression that "We the People" (or our employees or representatives) would be doing that drilling.... and that the oil would come straight to the US..

[jimshoes]

2. Peckerheads

hope they alll wind up in the poorhouse someday.

[Hydra]

3. The GOP benefits

Therefore, why shouldn't they filibuster? You don't think Congress actually represents anyone other than the Megacorps, do you?

[Bake]

6. Let them answer for it in November.

We should hammer every Puke candidate for office, from docatcher on up, with this issue. The GOP is against the people.

Bake

[librechik]

8. Long ago they swore to block anything and everything going through Congress--just to eff the dems

And, except for a very things, they have been successful at their plan.

I don't see why Harry doesn't just close down Congress until after the elctions. Nothing will get done anyway.

[bdf]

9. It's fairly obvious

They've looked at the consequences of the next election and acted accordingly.

If they lose the next election then they'll be out of power for many years. Possibly many, many years if any of the Bush/Cheney crimes are investigated. Therefore they might as well steal as much as they can now because it will be their last chance for a long time.

If they steal the next election then McSame will continue down the road to Hell and true democratic elections, determined by the popular vote, will be dead. They'll be in power forever and therefore have no need to worry about being punished for their actions now.

There's a third possibility: they lose the elections and Obama unleashes the dogs of justice upon them, so they all end up in jail. But Rethugnicons, like most criminals, never think that far ahead.