Yes we can protect the citizen from the Big Oil Scam!

Recently, I've written a couple of posts about energy speculation and why it's part of the reason for the current energy crisis. This occurs when speculators buy oil on paper with credit, the oil is never delivered and then we are told that supply and demand is driving the prices up.

Then all of a sudden, I read a story that Barack Obama is calling for an end to the speculation many believe is the cause of the out-of-control prices. Some think these high prices are being enabled by a law known as the "Enron Loophole." One would think that after studying all the fraud and financial misdeeds in the Enron scandal -- anything they pushed through Congress would have had action taken on it a long time ago?

Perhaps, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but having lived in California at the time of the Enron scandal -- I can see clear similarities between that time and now. Two of them are how it is hitting the pocketbook of the average person and that that the economic law of supply and demand is being used as an excuse.

From an article in the Washington Post by Anne E. Kornblut:

Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday rolled out a proposal to curb speculation in energy markets, a plan his advisers said would help stabilize soaring gas prices.

Obama proposed a four-step program that would, among other things, close a so-called "Enron loophole" that protects some energy futures trading from oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, his advisers said.

The Washington Post article quoted the McCain camp as saying:

"The truth is Barack Obama is following John McCain's lead to close a Wall Street loophole that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "John McCain has supported bipartisan efforts to close this loophole and will work to address abuses in oil speculation. Barack Obama has voted the party line for Democrats who claim the loophole is fixed. The fact that Barack Obama is attacking John McCain, despite McCain's leadership on the issue, shows that Barack Obama is driven by the partisan attacks that Americans are tired of."

Do we have a reversal going on? Prior to this all we've seen are statements on conservation and allowing the oil companies to drill in places they weren't allowed to before.

Please note -- the quote from the McCain camp is partially true -- Mr. McCain has in the past supported legislation to close the Enron Loophole. The problem is that it's been awhile since he has brought up doing anything about it. Perhaps, Mr. Obama will make him remember his original concerns with the problem?

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann did an interesting story on this, which I first saw on my daughter's blog (RaleighRD.blogspot.com), which can be seen, here.

This investigative report points out that Ken Lay starting laying the ground work for the Enron Loophole under the first Bush administration with the blessing of then "new" U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Enron Loophole was actually signed into law under the Clinton Administration.

Fast forward to the present and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is now going to host a International energy market manipulation conference to look into the speculation issue. Is this a sign that the Enron Loophole has gotten out-of-control?

It also points out that it is probable the speculators will do the same thing with alternative energy sources once they come into vogue.

Of course in all fairness to John McCain, he did vote with the minority in 2002-2003 to close this loophole.

Bill O'Reilly also did an interesting talking point on this subject last Wednesday called "Who Is Hurting You at the Gas Pump." Mr. O'Reilly made a great argument that a large percentage of the prices at the pump are being caused by greedy speculators and that the oil industry and OPEC are along for the ride.

Hopefully, Mr. Obama's statement will inspire the rest of the leadership in Washington to do the right thing and take a serious look at this problem.

In closing, those of us who remember the 70's need to remember we should have been taking a holistic approach to the energy problem long ago. We need to develop alternative sources and find ways to produce energy that aren't going to ruin the planet.

If we ignore the recent lessons on how volatile the energy market is -- there is little doubt we will see the problem in the future again -- and wonder why we didn't do anything about it NOW.

I hope this doesn't turn into a flurry of attacks between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. Wouldn't it be nice to see them join hands and do what is in the interest of the general public? I'd also like to see support in Washington to foster what should be a bi-partisan effort.

I'm pretty sure the voting public would appreciate this and should they fail to do so might express their frustrations when they exercise their right to vote!

Does our current economic situation make sense?

Could major companies outsourcing jobs be an enabling factor in oil prices skyrocketing out of control? After all, the oil companies claim that increased demand in Asia (especially China and India) are a major reason prices skyrocket, weekly.

I guess this means we have outsourced so many jobs and manufacturing, they are using more oil?

Of course, some of other reasons used to justify oil prices increasing seem to not make very much sense. Sinister terrorist threats that never surface, or minor attacks have been used to drive the price of a barrel of oil up, also.

The problem is for the average person, it's hard to figure out if someone is telling the truth or offering us a convenient excuse for making an obscene amount of profit.

And if anyone were to blame the people in Asia for this, they would be sadly mistaken. I suspect they are being used for one thing and one thing alone, cheap labor. This cheap labor has some other ugly aspects to it, such as labor practices that wouldn't be tolerated in the West and a constant stream of unsafe and defective products being sold all over the world.

So far as placing blame, we might want to look at the few, who are making a ton of money by reducing their labor costs?

Last time I checked, the out-of-control gas prices and food shortages are impacting people in Asia and Africa pretty severely, also. Some say one of the reasons for this is all the corn being diverted to make ethanol.

While this is still merely a nuisance at the grocery store here in the West, they say it is sending people to bed hungry at night in less fortunate countries.

Sadly enough, experts are now telling us that using corn to produce Ethanol is unlikely to make an impact on the energy crisis, either. They say it uses more energy to produce than we get by using it. Is this just another venue for a few speculators to make a lot of money at the expense of everyone else?

I suppose this revelation is just another inconvenient truth?

Yesterday's sharp increase in the price in oil and the fact that we are seeing the largest loss in jobs in 20 years sparked the following commentary in the New York Times by Peter Goodman:

For tens of millions of Americans struggling to pay bills, the jobs report added an official stamp of authority to a dispiriting reality they already know: A deteriorating labor market is eliminating paychecks just as they are needed to compensate for the soaring cost of food and fuel, and as the fall in house prices hacks away at household wealth and access to credit.

The well-written commentary goes into a lot of specifics, which are pretty gloomy. It also contains quotes from the various presidential candidates, who offer completely different solutions to the problem.

For a long time, we have been hearing there is no fraud in the oil prices going out of control. Despite this the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is hosting a International energy market manipulation conference. Do they know something we don't?

Of course, in another contributing factor to the overall mess (the mortgage meltdown), the FBI recently announced that they are investigating several major companies. It's going to be interesting to see what becomes of that.

In both these contributing factors to the economic crisis, a lot of taxpayer dollars are being used to protect or bail out both of these industries. I've often wondered why the taxpayer gets to pay to protect oil producing countries and bail out corporations, who were clearly irresponsible in the way they did business?

With all the money they made, or are currently making, shouldn't they be held responsible for at least some of the costs?

If you look at the entire situation, it's hard to make sense or understand the reasons we are being given for why it is occurring.

What does make sense it that our overall perception of the public officials, who swear an oath to the protect it's citizens from enemies (both foreign and domestic)is at it's lowest ebb in history. Part of the reason for this is too many of them are getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar and the general consensus is that special interests seem to influence the way they vote more than anything else.

We are seeing a lot of talk about doing something about this problem, but little to no action being taken to correct it. A little less talk and more action might go a long way in fixing the problem. Otherwise, we might begin to think that all this talk is nothing more than a lot "hot air."

I'm not sure how much longer the voting public is going to put up with the current situation -- but one thing is clear -- politicians running for office are accepting a lot of money from lobbyists, which is a nicer word for "special interests."

As long as the public is getting gouged (my opinion) for no apparent reason, the ties between politicians and lobbyists are going to become more and more questionable.

One good place to keep up on these issues and or voice your opinion (my wife, Ellen is a big fan) is Lou Dobbs' site.

In fact, since I am slightly off my normal topic, I think I'll dedicate this post to her.