Countdown had a fnatastically bombastic special report on the fact that oil speculation is what is causing the rise of oil prices, and not really any sort of supply and demand. The fact that speculators can speculate about oil was part of a law passed back in the day and the law was this backroom cigar smoke filled type deal, tailored to Enron (yes, that Enron). This deal, more or less, lead to the rolling blackouts in California back in 2001. The long and short is that energy could become a speculative commodity and that is what made the price of electricity go crazy back then and oil go crazy now.
Some people dispute this assertion or aren't sure. Check out this screen shot.
Basically this article on CBS says that the rise in oil is only because of supply and demand and that the Enron Loophole is not an issue. Please note the sponsor of this article: Exxon Mobil.
But that is strange because when you google "the enron loophole" the first hit is the "Close the Enron Loophole" website. The Close the Enron Loophole website is powered by the PMAA, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America (Valero, BP, RJ Reynolds, Exxon Mobil). Isn't that weird? I don't get that part. Why would they support the website dedicated to ending the oil speculation bubble? Something very very weird is going on here. I think it's because with the Loophole, investors control the markets, instead of the companies. I refer to this paragraph on the homepage:
Additionally, through the so-called “swaps loophole,” financial investors can
“game the markets” for pure profit by buying up positions in the energy markets,
without any limitation on the size of the positions they can take. One
recent estimate suggested that they now control one third of the commodities
markets, or $150 billion - a 1,000% increase in less than five years!
See Keith Olberman's report here.
Read that bullshisse article from screen shot above here.
I'm going to ask this question: why do the oil companies sponsor the webpage that promotes an end to the Enron Loophole? What, exactly, is going on here? And who do we ask to get the answer?
All I know for sure is this: just like the housing market's inflation was strewn with corruption, so is this rising oil prices issue.
Can't wait for five years from now when bubbles burst and the government bails out giant corporations and we all suffer from the scandal, just liek we did with the housing market collapsing. Does anyone else feel like a hamster on a wheel?
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