Why gasoline prices are going straight up

In its first action to overturn Bush administration policies on energy, the Obama administration on Wednesday said it will cancel oil drilling leases on more than 130,000 acres near two national parks and other protected areas in Utah

MSNBC

When the above was written gasoline was around $2.00. Since then prices have increased steadily. And while there has been no shortage, the message sent by the above to the speculators is this:

"We, the wacko environmentalists of the Democratic party, are in control and will do nothing to increase supply."

That's a powerful message.

In the meantime, to be the best of my knowledge, nothing has been done to correct the problems defined in the following article, even though it is almost 30 months old.

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 21, 2008


Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses.

But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's portfolio -- at one point in July, the firm held 11 percent of all the oil contracts on the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange.

The discovery revealed how an individual financial player had gained enormous sway over the oil market without the knowledge of regulators. Other CFTC data showed that a significant amount of trading activity was concentrated in the hands of just a few speculators.

WaPost

Now the Democrats have been in power of both houses of Congress for 47 of the past 48 months and the Executive branch for the past 24 months.

Yet they have done nothing. Nothing at all.

And the speculators are again on the move. And the latest unemployment figures show the results.

Why has this happened? Because it suits Obama.

He talks like a moderate and he governs like a radical.

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