``Ironically, hedge funds trading oil are not doing anything very different than the large investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, or Morgan Stanley already do. The proprietary trading desks of these and other large investment banks are actually 'hedge funds in drag,' just as Enron was.'' -- Peter C. Fusaro and Gary M. Vasey, Hedge Funds Change Energy Trading
``Enron did two things for us. It validated our model, and in 2000, 13 big market makers agreed to support the ICE's efforts.''-- Jeffrey Sprecher, Chairman and CEO, Intercontinental Exchange
“It's one of the most frustrating things. We essentially have had modern-day bank robbers -- except that they wore gray suits and not masks -- and there's been no accountability for it ...
Every day we see energy speculators, war profiteers, managed health-care providers, media propagandists, and/or financiers given some unfair advantage over the average consumers and taxpayers, and the cumulative effect of the American people watching selfishness prevail over the public interest has been an undermining of the public's trust in government.
There's no question the system is rigged against the little guy. The bigger interests have a lot more information. They jerry-rig the system so that they always win.” – Senator Byron Dorgan
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a
report stating that in the oil market alone, manipulated trading adds 50% to the price for consumers.
Other analysts document that these parasitic “trades” more than double oil prices. When other commodity markets are accounted for, the total addition to consumer prices are between
$2 trillion to $4 trillion every year.
Allow me to put this all in context, for your consideration. Early 21
st century Earth is still living in an antagonistically vicious political and economic paradigm.
Our monetary system was designed by banks to allow them to create money and then lend it to us at interest, causing literally unpayable and perpetual debt.
Wall Street “recklessly gambles” and then has the political power to have us bail them out to cause their profits both on the way up and on the way down.
Professionals use language like “banana republic,” “mafia,” and “oligarchy” to describe our economic system.
Economic parasitism extends into wars to dominate strategic areas of resources,
thinly concealed behind propaganda for “national defense.”
The good news is that the corruption is visible and verifiable to
all who choose to look. It might also be that such recognition is part of human evolution’s preparation for radical improvement, as elegantly communicated in the
One Minute Shift video below, Metaphormosis. Also below is an insiders’ explanation of dark pool trading in a 6-minute video.
As always, please share this article with all who say they want to be competent as citizens over trillions of our collective dollars. If you appreciate my work, please subscribe by clicking under the article title (it’s free). Please feel free to use my
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I respond to comments; feel free to ask questions and share your perspective.
Comments
Great article. Bankers have stolen far more the ENRON due to the bailouts. The only differance is ENRON dissowbeyed the Gov and Wall Street uses the Government to steal.
How the F--- are we going to get out of this Mess? We need a complete overhaul of the government to get it back to the way it was meant to be. But if we revolt the police and army will be used by the Bankers to finally destroy everything it seems.
Fair and Balanced:
Thanks for the question! I added a paragraph with my best policy response: Truth and Reconciliation. Without critical mass of public understanding and action, and key people within government and military, we're owned. Unless God will step in for enough peoples' change of hearts, I see no evidence of that critical mass. However, there may be much we cannot see that is none-the-less present and active. All we can do is keep moving forwar in good-faith effort. We need faith, persistence, and our best work.
A typical oil contract will be traded back and forth an average of 15 times before the oil reaches a refinery.
These thieves might be wearing custom made silk suits and line in penthouses but they're stil crooks and con artists, savaging Americans for every dime they can squeeze out of our wallets.
Aided and abetted by a corrupt Congress who care nothing for We the People, as they are too busy groveling at the feet of Wall Street gangsters.
Face it, we have lost control of our country.
Now what are YOU willing to do to get it back?
Maybe the time has come to require all type of commodities' future contracts to be paid in full, instead of pennies on the dollars. Also, buying stocks on margin and shorting stock should not be allowed either. Then, the wild swing in prices on a day to day basis will become more stabilized and reflect the true values of stocks and commodities.
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