The ugly Americans
In the mad rush to blame speculators for high oil prices, our solons in Washington have inadvertently revealed a U.S.-centric, 20th century mindset.
I'm sure Sens. Carl Levin and Dianne Feinstein think they're enlightened types, far beyond any sort of "ugly American" mentality. But that's exactly what they betray with their notion of closing the "London loophole."
Says Levin, "The [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] didn't have good information about who was trading how much US oil when, and whether traders subject to US speculation limits were circumventing them by trading in London. That's why I and my colleagues have repeatedly introduced legislation to close the London loophole."
The Levin-Feinstein bill would order the CFTC "to ensure that energy commodities traded on foreign exchanges using trading terminals located within the US are subject to the same speculative trading limits and reporting requirements as energy commodities traded on US exchanges," reports the Financial Times.
Of course, not only is there a London loophole, there's also now potentially a Dubai loophole. And in time, perhaps a St. Petersburg loophole. And if the Iranians can ever get their heads out of their posteriors, a Tehran loophole, and if Hugo Chavez can do likewise, a Caracas loophole. Soon there will be a big bold world of people outside the United States, trading in exchanges outside the United States, perhaps using currencies other than that of the United States.
And as oil prices rise all the while to $150 and $200 and even higher, Sens. Levin and Feinstein will still be fussing and fuming about transactions through U.S. terminals that will account for less and less of the world's oil trade. What will they do then? Maybe they'll sue the operators of the international bourses, to go along with their suits against OPEC. Yeah, that'll bring back $2.00-a-gallon gas.
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Pingback on June 2, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
20 - 30 years ago, when I was a kidd and when I used to feast myself reading Norman Spinrad’s novels I believed what massmedia said about them : ” Norman Spinrad’s novels are masterpieces of SCIENCE - FICTION “…
30 years latter, I can’t find where the FICTION is in his novels, because everything is happenning…But I still enjoy reading them…
Comment on June 2, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
Once again, govt at its Fien(stein)est, doing what it does best: screwing things up.
Comment on June 3, 2008 @ 8:39 am
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Pingback on June 3, 2008 @ 9:19 am
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Pingback on June 8, 2008 @ 9:19 am
ANATOLI…AS I EMBARK ON MY QUEST TO SOLVE SOLAR ENERGY INSTALLATION PROBLEMS FOR MY FRIEND COLLINS HERE IN FLORIDA, AND MY BROTHER-IN-LAW IN CALIFORNIA, IT HAS BECOME CLEAR THAT TWO OPPOSING FORCES ARE AT WORK IN OUR SOCIETY. ON THE ONE HAND WE HAVE OLD-STYLE PETROLEUM ROBBER BARONS TRYING TO INTEREST US IN THE ARCHAIC CONCEPT OF ENERGY-BY-THE-GALLON (GASOLINE, DIESEL, LNG, HYDROGEN, VEGETABLE OIL, ETHANOL, TAR SANDS, SHALE AND OTHER CUMBERSOME SUBSTANCES) WHICH REQUIRE FLEETS OF SHIPS, FLEETS OF TANKER TRUCKS AND THOUSANDS OF “CONVENIENCE” STORE/GAS STATION EYESORES ON EVERY CORNER.
THESE RAVENOUS OLD COOTS WHO CLING WITH A DEATH-GRIP TO THEIR FOSSIL FUELS AND IDEAS, FEAR MOST LOCAL SOLUTIONS WHICH MAKE THEIR GLOBAL DESIGNS LOOK PATHETIC AND MERCENARY. THEY ARE THE MULTI-NATIONALISTS WHO CRAVE A NEW WORLD ORDER POWERED BY ELITE CORPORATE BOARDS WITH GOLDEN PARACHUTES AND A DISDAIN FOR THE COMMON MAN AND WOMAN. SOLAR POWER IS THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE. AS MILLIONS NOW DREAM OF TOSSING THE PETROLEUM HOOK SO LONG EMBEDDED IN THEIR STRUGGLING FLESH, THESE CARNIVOROUS, DOUBLE-DEALING PURVEYORS OF FOSSIL NARCOTICS FURTHER DREAM OF COMPLEX NUCLEAR (NEWQUALER) INFRASTRUCTURES AND HIGH-TECH HYDROGEN ENERGY LOOPS.
ON THE OTHER HAND WE HAVE SINGLE CITIZENS WHO DREAM OF WATCHING THEIR NET METERING CHECKS COME IN THE MAIL AS THEY ARRIVE AT THE POST OFFICE IN AN ALL ELECTRIC CAR POWERED BY THE SAME SOLAR CELLS AND WINDMILLS WHICH EARN THE CHECKS. HOW SCARY IT MUST BE FOR POLITICIANS TO PONDER MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WHO HAVE HOME-BASED ENERGY, WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES WHICH FREE THEM FROM MUCH OF THE LEGISLATIVE INERTIA IN THEIR LIVES. EVEN THEIR KIDS, BEING HOME-SCHOOLED, WILL BE SAFE FROM THE EVER CENTRALIZED, MIND-NUMBING LEFT-WING, LIBERAL BLATHER OF NEA “TEACHERS” WHO LOOK TO THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE LATEST IN SOCIALISTIC, NANNY-STATE DOCTRINES.
THIS VERY MOMENT IN WORLD HISTORY NOW BRINGS INDIVIDUALS SEEKING PERSONAL FREEDOM, FACE-TO-FACE WITH A NATION TRENDING TOWARDS CENTRALIZED, FEDERAL TYRANNY. ONE DEFINITION STATES THAT “A POLITICIAN IS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS TERRIBLY AFRAID THAT SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE IS HAVING A GOOD TIME.” AS OUR “REPRESENTATIVES” (STYLING THEMSELVES AS “LAWMAKERS”) YAMMER AND POSTURE OVER THEIR DREAMS OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, BULLET TRAINS FROM BOSTON TO WASHINGTON D.C., AND OTHER PORK PROJECTS, THEY FIND LITTLE TIME TO CONSIDER HUMANE ALTERNATIVES. THAT’S OKAY…NOW…BECAUSE A GROWING NUMBER OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS ARE WORKING TOWARDS FREEING THEMSELVES FROM THE SUFFOCATING GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE DOMINATION OF LIFESTYLE CHOICES.
A SUB-CULTURE OF VISIONARY ENTREPRENEURS ARE FINALLY PRODUCING TECHNOLOGY WHICH WILL, POTENTIALLY, FREE US ALL FROM THE GORDIAN KNOTS BEING TIED IN OUR STATE AND NATIONAL CAPITALS WHICH SEEK TO INCREASE OUR DEPENDENCY ON GOVERNMENT. IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO WATCH AS THE GRAY MENTALITIES OF CAREER BUREAUCRATS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE TO WATCH, WITH DESPERATE FRUSTRATION, AS MILLIONS OF THEIR FORMER SUBJECTS BACK AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT TROUGH AND REINVEST THEMSELVES IN THE OLD AMERICAN DREAM OF FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE. ONE WONDERS WHAT KIND OF DRACONIAN LEGISLATION THEY WILL TRY TO PASS IN AN ATTEMPT TO HEAD OFF THE INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCES OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES WHICH THREATEN TO GIVE THE INHABITANTS OF THEIR DISTRICTS MORE FREEDOM AND SELF-DETERMINATION. I ALMOST FEEL SORRY FOR THEM.
OF COURSE THOSE WHO LIVE STACKED ONE UPON ANOTHER IN THE HIGH-RISE CONDOMINIUM BEEHIVES OF CENTRAL CITIES, OR PEOPLE WHO INHABIT CHEEK-BY-JOWL MILLION DOLLAR HOMES IN GATED COMMUNITIES WITH RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BECOME EVEN SLIGHTLY SELF-SUFFICIENT REGARDING DOMESTIC ENERGY. THEY WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THEIR POWER SUPPLIERS TO SWITCH FROM MASSIVE, INTERNAL COMBUSTION GENERATORS TO SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY WHEN ECONOMIES OF SCALE ARE REALIZED, AND CONCERN ABOUT SO-CALLED “GREENHOUSE GASSES” HAVE GENERATED ENOUGH PARANOIA TO PROMPT CHANGE. IT IS ALL HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. WE ARE READY. LET’S DO IT.
Comment on June 11, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
Why is nobody talking about the role the banks and Federal Reserve played in the inflation and deflation that is disrupting our economy? The whole purpose of the Federal Reserve is bank bailouts. The banks made billions by making loans, creating new money by counting those loans as bank assets, then only retaining a small fraction of the the money needed to pay back depositors so they can use each loan to make at least 30 new loans creating even more money that is dumped into the economy causing inflation. In the meantime, when these loans default, the Federal Reserve creates money from nothing that the U.S. Government borrows (at interest from the Federal Reserve) and gives to the banks - either because the government had guaranteed the loans or because they are told there will be a run on the bank and the bank doesn’t have enough money to return to depositors. Some banks are taken over by larger more solvent (or less solvent) banks which the government then pays to cover all losses and the larger bank absorbs it’s former competitor at the taxpayer’s expense.
No other business is run that way or receives that kind of largesse from the U.S. taxpayers. Worse yet, the inflation this causes by both the Fed and the banks adding to the money supply is a secret tax that is hardest on people who have low or fixed incomes. and the U.S. taxpayers haven’t caught on to the fact that they are being fleeced and that this whole idea is nothing but a money redistribution scheme that rewards the banks for misconduct and bad business practices.
It no longer is just American banks that are being bailed out, but other nation’s banks and governments as well. This last round of bailouts dwarfs the S&L crises and the South American bank crises a few years back that also created runaway inflation and then recession.
We are sending American Dollars to the rest of the world on an unprecedented scale, through the United Nations, The World Bank and the World Trade Organization, as well as direct loans, and who knows how many more global paths. The real rub is that the U.S. citizens have never been asked - this is all being done in secret without fanfare because of the treaties our government signed NAFTA and CAFTA and others that take away our sovereignty and tilt us towards a world global government. Not many thinking Americans really want to be ruled by the U.N, nor do we want our economy manipulated by the Federal Reserve which has failed miserably to fulfill it’s original mandate to stabalize the economy.You can’t blame this mess we’re in on speculators or other forces. The Federal Reserve is the agency most responsible for flip flopping our economy between inflation and recession/depression.
The Federal Reserve is also
unconstitutional, and a private entity whose stock is owned by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks which it supposedly regulates. The Federal Reserve is never audited,is not under government control or oversight Our constitution actually forbids a central bank and gives Congress (and only Congress) the right to coin money. Neither can Congress delegate it’s power to the other branches of government or to the Federal Reserve. It’s time to reign in the Federal Reserve. Put them in charge of clearing the world’s checks and take away the power to create money with no gold or silver standard in place to limit the money supply to a stable rate of growth and contraction. The Federal Reserve is supposed to control the money supply and instead they manipulate it so the largest banks are guaranteed a huge profit or a bailout when they make bad decisions.
Comment on June 20, 2008 @ 12:26 am