The CFTC Can't Stop Wild Commodity Speculation Alone

Why not?

Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday July 09, 2009 03:58PM EDT"The reason credit is flowing to speculation is because that is exactly what policy makers want to happen." I agree. It is called Dash for Cash. The "RALLY" on all assets classes coincided with the bank recap. ****** History will judge this period harshly. Tim Guietner was out of spotlight for 2-3 weeks before the "Rally". He was seen hanging out with Robert Rubin, who has not been talked about so far. I would not be surprised his name will surface quite a bit. This is a well-orchestrated series of events and maneuvers, from Green Shoots to Happy Talk media, from TARP to market manipulation, from the Stress Test to bank capital raising. Make no mistake about that. There is nothing RANDOM about these. It will overshadow the "Watergate" as the single biggest scandal both politically and financially ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ While all of the above is pretty close to the truth.... nothing will ever come of it. The elites simply have too much money, too much influence, too much at stake, and control most of the media and most of the politicans. It has been and continues to be a RIGGED GAME by and for the elites and will remain such. The only hope is perhaps a Class Action Lawsuit by one of the big law firms on behalf of all investors worldwide. They may be the only ones with the bucks, staying power, and necessary expertise to pursue it. If the payoff were big enough and it should be .... trillions ...., then a large class action law firm just might take it on. Other than that an Elliot Spitzer type might attempt it, if one could be found, but they they are under-resourced, outmanned, and out-experted to really do it. One has to remember that you are attempting to prove (even though they are) that the largest, wealthiest, and most influential financial firms and many wealthy and connected people are basically crooks. They are, but remember there is massive money at stake and they will fight anyone to the death who attemts to bring down their cash cows. So, it is a much much bigger scandal than Watergate and far more evil and greedy ... but who are you gonna get to pursue it that has the skill and deep pockets necessary to take on the elite crooks and their political friends? Good luck finding anybody willing to do it.

charles.torre - Thursday July 09, 2009 04:17PM EDTThe best way to stop anything is to tax it heavily. Tax the speculative gains and don't allow the losses. ================================================== Yep that would kill it for sure. Taxing anything at very very high rates will kill it. Of course all speculators will attempt to get around it, but exceptionally high taxes and penalties for tax avoidance might well be the cheapest and most effective way to reign in speculation.

It is not luck. I love history. You see, the history is about people. The majority of the people can be and have been manipulated throughout the history. What are the history changers are the two extreme sides of the bell curve. That is, the LUMINATI Vs. the corrupted power in a broader sense. The movement is in the vast middle. A wise ancient Chinese emperor said, "people like water. They can support the boat or they can overturn and sink the boat." What makes this country great is that one extreme side of the bell curve. For the first time in human history, internet becomes BY FAR the most efficient means to disseminate information. With this awesome power of internet, the corrupted power stands NO chance. Because, once the truth is shared by the vast middle, the GAME IS OVER. In conclusion, once again, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." —Abraham Lincoln, 1860s Which side are you on? If you are on the other extreme side of the bell curve, just let me know...

Name ONE good thing about speculation??????? I bet no one can. Speculators are garbage.

The US Governments single biggest mistake occurred in 07/08 when Bush was bailing out the Elites as he allowed them to manipulate commodity prices. This manipulation by the World’s largest banks, hedge funds and /or investment banks gave the Fed a way to create instant inflation, when needed, by “indirectly” allowing the Fed & US Government to “tax” all Americans via higher commodity prices. The banks and Wall Street manipulated prices for the Federal Reserve which allowed them to keep all profits as Americans unknowingly supported Wall Street bailouts via every gallon of gas they purchase, roll of copper wire, loaf of bread or box of cereal they bought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The truth is Bush, the Fed & Us Government should have allowed the banks and/or Wall Street to fail… thereby purging all excesses and lousy investment bankers out of the system (with empty bonus envelopes) instead they “gave” them truckloads of US tax money. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In America just to show how serious this crisis is both President Obama and the idiots in Congress should take 25% pay and benefit cuts as a show of support and empathy with the common man. Off Shore Banking should be declared illegal, businesses should be taxed heavily and a 60% tax rate should kick in on incomes starting at $150,000. The tax rate should then be cut on all incomes under $75,000 and those making under $25,000 or less paying no taxes should receive tax credits. The US Government should immediately start major infrastructure projects creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, support state & local social programs, food pantries, temporary housing programs and start National Healthcare…. and work on the national debt. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The end isn’t near.

guts in congress? the only thing they have is what comes out of those guts

Yahoo Finance User is correct that Bernstein has totally missed the fundamentals driving the rise in commodity prices. All other factors remaining the same, commodity prices (in dollars) go up as the government devalues the dollar (creats excessive liquidity). Even more alarming is the fact that Bernstein, and most of the commentors here, automatically default to a "more regulation" mindset when looking for solutions to the problem -- and probably all othter economic problems. Its as if they believe that centralized government requlation is the answer. Can peo;le really be that ignorant of history -- the destruction of wealth and freedome procuded by such centralized controll?

Sorry for spelling mistakes. I couldn't see what I was typing. Last sentence reads: "Can people really be that ignorant of history -- the destruction of wealth and of freedom produced by centralized controll?"

its all Goldman Sachs... isnt this the pot accusing the kettle of being black?

Monitary crisis on the horizon watch "Money as Dept" on google Utube!

How much for a loaf of bread?

Had the banks been allowed to fail it would have exposed the great weakness and failings of our current debt based monitary system.The disagrement between this "western" system and Islamic law is being used as one of the excuses for Jiad!..As a "global" system it is a total failure.Over 300 plus years is a long life for the unsustainable.The elite will not give up on their supranational wet dream until most of mankind is dead from radioactive fall out...Did you know that Jefferson was a fan of the Koran?.........Willi in taxes

Excellent insight. Where is our government?

"Commodity speculators have and will easily get around CFTC reporting requirements because the CFTC only oversees the public commodity markets. Washington doesn’t seem to realize that the non-public markets might actually be a bigger haven for speculators." WASHINGTON DOESN'T SEEM TO REALIZE...................... devil dammit. What liars these so-called expert guys are! Washington doesn't realize........puleeezzzzzz. Henry Paulson and Timmy Geithner worked at Goldman Sachs. They are alumni. They know exactly what speculators are doing. They eat lunch with them. They are most likely invested with them. What malarky.

It's telling that only 38 comments have been left on this story 2 days after it was posted. I don't see this as a critique of TT readers so much as I see it a microcosm of the general public's understanding of why the financial freeze occurred in the first place. ------------------------------ Regulating and enforcing specialized derivatives seems distasteful and yet necessary, to an extent. But enforcement will never catch-up with the speed and innovative ways that very-wealthy people and entities can and will trade with one another. One day, perhaps in 30 years, there will be a 'private placement' stock market setup in the Cayman Islands, and no one will be able to do anything about it. I'm not really fighting against some regulation. It is needed. But done incorrectly, it can needlessly shift foreign investment away to other countries, as has been occurring with Sarb-Ox. This is one way Americans (and Europeans) remain arrogant-- that if we pass laws in all of our nations, no one can do what we don't want them to do. But the world is a big place. And bubbles always happen -- sometimes the very regulation meant to avoid them is actually their cause. The best you can hope for is to apply law with responsible limits which advocates that a certain outcome be avoided (like a company the size of AIG must remain solvent should all of its investments go bad), and then base enforcement by warning large hedge and investment firms that they will share financial accountability if the undesired outcome occurs (using the AIG example again, they will NOT be bailed out if they fail and/or government will dictate compensation). It's easy to see these problems now, but by warning of such consequences to any such outcome, regardless of how it occurred, allows both flexibility and responsibility. To otherwise try and regulate every technique, idea and dollar is like trying Prohibition.

Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday July 09, 2009 03:58PM EDT "The reason credit is flowing to speculation is because that is exactly what policy makers want to happen." I agree. It is called Dash for Cash.........There is nothing RANDOM about these. It will overshadow the "Watergate" as the single biggest scandal both politically and financially" -------------------------------------------------- I agree with your comment. I'm not much of a conspiracy follower. But there's a lot going on behind the scenes, with end-of-day rallies and wild oil speculation, right at a time when banks have less than 1 dollar on deposit for every 15 lent out, and with toxic asset issue completely unresolved, plus many other perplexing problems. We have successfully unfrozen the financial freeze of November, but a great deal of ugly problems remain, yet we see the markets trying to ignore it all. This is exactly what happened in the South Seas Bubble, the post WW1 crash, the 1929 crash, and even after the Tech Bubble crash just 8 short years ago. We've had our first few hits of chemo, but the cancer is still spreading.