Congress Aims At Oil Trading: Democrats Offer Another Bill To Curb Oil Speculation

Reality Check: Americans are suffering from high prices at the gas pump, the price of oil is being pushed higher by higher world demand and a clear majority of Americans want something done to ease the pain and a viable solution for long-term relief. So, what do the Dems do? They hold hearings in an attempt to shift the blame away from where it properly belongs: with Congress.

First, they tried, unsuccessfully, many times, to blame the oil companies for price gouging. But the truth prevailed and it became clear the Dems were leveling false charges. So now, the Dems are going after investors or "speculators" as the culprits for the high price of oil. Does anyone else see where this is going and why it is such a sham?

From CNN:

Congress will focus on energy speculation on Monday, as some lawmakers blamed Wall Street traders for record oil and gasoline prices. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the chair of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, will investigate whether further regulation of trading is warranted. ... Congress is awash in nine different bills that attempt to limit the role of speculators.

First let's look at the economics here. Oil prices are not high because the speculators came running over to trade futures, speculators came running over to trade futures because oil prices are high. You see, people don't start their car engines because they drove somewhere, they drove somewhere because they started their car engines. Get it?

This is simply another lame attempt at deflecting blame and a clear example of economic ignorance. They tried to blame the oil companies and then they tried to blame OPEC. They failed on all accounts.

Now they are trying to blame investors who are simply responding to the high prices that Congress is responsible for.

Congress has limited our supply by forbiding new drilling. Congress has bowed to environmental extremists and refused to allow new refineries to be built. Congress mandated the use of ethanol which required the use of even more oil and drove the price of gasoline even higher and drove up food prices as well.

Overall, this new attempt by the Dems to shift blame will have the same effect as all the proposed and enacted policies that came from the Dem leadership: not one drop of oil will be produced, not one drop of gasoline will be refined and the cost of energy won't be reduced by a single cent.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Congress Aims At Oil Trading
Dave Goldman
CNN.com
June 23, 2008