Oil speculators are benefactors of humanity. We should be very grateful to all of them. Next time you see an oil speculator, thank him for what he is doing.

Most Americans would strongly disagree with me. But they are wrong -- not morally wrong, but factually wrong. One of the consequences of the recent increase in the price of gasoline has been the demonization of oil speculators. Politicians, journalists, talking heads, bloggers, and agitators have been denouncing speculators and proclaiming that the general public has been harmed by their speculating.

Most of the anti-speculator rhetoric has been civil. But some of it can be described only as hate speech: Google "speculator, bloodsucker" and you will be directed to , websites. And this anti-speculator hysteria has not been confined to the usual suspects on the left. For example, the normally sensible Bill O'Reilly has been bloviating about the wicked oil speculators. We now face an even more dangerous idea than the idea that speculation is harming the average American: Many people, including the president of the United States, have called for the government to stop -- or reduce the amount of -- speculation in oil.

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Vermont's socialist senator, Bernie Sanders, has announced that he plans to introduce a bill to do just that. According to President Obama, "[w]e can't afford a situation where some speculators reap millions while millions of American families get the short end of the stick.

But his implication that the American people have been harmed by that is false. Those who believe that speculation makes non-speculators like us worse off are factually incorrect. Excerpt Read more at americanthinker.

Why Money is Part of Human Nature: Money as Both Tool and Drug - PsyBlog

A long windy road to get to the punch line: Environmentalists and the EPA suck. Since the s it has been well documented that there were capped oil fields all over the US because it wasn't economically viable using existing technologies to extract the crude.

Under Carter several capped fields were reopened because they had become money makers, again. Anyone want to discuss the differences between the s and today? SeekAndFind Futures trading tends to level out a fluctuating market. Its what the Board of Trade,and all the other futures exchanges, including the financial futures exchanges around the world and around the country do.

The mush heads and socialists will not or cannot understand this.

Speculators are only interested in making money, which is fine. However, making them sound like some noble business person providing a valuable public service is extremely dishonest. Certainly--as opposed to the "Occupiers" and the parasites in Congress and the Press and on the welfare rolls! Nothing is darker than mendacity.

Expatriate For each speculator who becomes rich, how many fail? The author is creating a ridiculously oversimplified strawman and holding that up as an ideal. The actual speculation market is far different and reality does not support his assertions. This is not to say that speculation can or should be reined in by the government because speculation is now global and we do not have the ability to control it. Not sure I see the corelation here.

The speculator neither adds to, nor subtracts from either of those demands over the long term, and whether the speculator is betting on rising or falling prices would not seem, on the surface anyway, to encourage investment on the part of the producer.

Can you provide some reasoning? Expatriate Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. SeekAndFind I have to wonder if BOR is going to revisit this issue.

Or 60 Minutes, for that matter. Show us some wealthy speculators, show us the broke ones. Show us how government rgulations play into pricing anomolies. What does that have to do with what I posted? For that matter, what do I care? It is thier decision to gamble thier money. If they win - nice job!

If they loose, sorry - get a job with a more stable income. Just don't tell me I have to feel some debt of gratitude for thier nobel sacrifice Expatriate Nobody is saying you have to Right, and thats exactly what I called for when I said: Oh, and if speculators were to stop speculating, the economy would not tank. Producers would still produce and consumers would still consume - there would be more seasonal fluctuation perhaps - but the world would still keep spinning.

SeekAndFind In a free market there is a tendency toward the equalization of the price of a good in the present with the expected price of that good in the future. The activity of the speculators serves to transfer supplies from a period on which they are less urgently needed, as indicated by their lower price to a period in which they are more urgently needed, as indicated by their higher price.

In this way, it brings about the optimum rate of consumption of limited supplies. This space no longer for rent [ Post Reply Private Reply To 1 View Replies ] To: SeekAndFind Yes, but that has NOTHING to do with rising Futures prices. My profit potential is not dependent on the price being driven up or down but strictly on the price action. This space no longer for rent [ Post Reply Private Reply To 17 View Replies ] Navigation: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management.

All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. There are people who take oil off the market now without putting it back on the market at a later time. That is, these people are responsible for decreasing the current supply and thereby increasing the current price, without increasing the future supply and thereby decreasing the future price.

The behavior of these people has only one economic effect, which is a harmful effect. But these people are not the people we call speculators. They are the people we call environmentalists. Futures trading tends to level out a fluctuating market.

Take it to the Mattress. Get rid of Romney. I have to wonder if BOR is going to revisit this issue. For each speculator who becomes rich, how many fail? Nobody is saying you have to In a free market there is a tendency toward the equalization of the price of a good in the present with the expected price of that good in the future.

The Money Makers - Play on Crazy Games

This space no longer for rent. Speculators add liquidity and depth to the market, and those are both very good things.

Yes, but that has NOTHING to do with rising Futures prices. FreeRepublic , LLC, PO BOX , FRESNO, CA