I WONDER HOW CRAZY THE SPECULATORS ARE

Would they be willing to send the U.S. into a Depression for their personal gain?

Key regulator: Speculators swamping oil, grain markets
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2011
WASHINGTON — In the sharpest criticism yet of excessive speculation in oil markets, the head of a key regulatory agency presented data Thursday showing that almost nine in 10 traders betting that oil prices would rise were financial speculators, not actual end-users of oil.

Gensler cited May 31 data that show end-users accounted for just 12 percent of the "long" positions in futures contracts for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil. Long positions are bets that prices will rise in the future. That means that 88 percent of bets on price hikes for oil were held by financial players_ mainly Wall Street banks and hedge funds that invest for the ultra wealthy — not interests seeking to use the oil.

The trend was the same for wheat futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, Gensler said; there end-users represented just 10 percent of trades betting that prices would keep rising months out — or "long" positions. Wheat prices, like oil, have soared this year.

McClatchy provides this useful additional insight from the private sector:

In a Tuesday investment note, analysts at Wall Street research firm Oppenheimer & Co. said the OPEC oil cartel has put a number on how much speculators may be adding to the price of a barrel of oil.

"OPEC believes the current oil prices reflect $15-20 (per barrel) of risk premium attributed to financial speculation, which may be conservative," the Oppenheimer report said. Oil currently trades at about $100 a barrel. "Barring a severe economic recession, we believe oil prices will remain inflated unless oil speculation is effectively regulated."