2-18-08 by dugan
Where’s Congress? When it comes to oil and gasolne prices, our
elected officials are has hard to find as Waldo. Speculators today
shoved oil prices are back up to $96 a barrel, and gasoline prices are
once again above $3.00 a gallon nationally.
Reporters searching for a reason feebly cite Venezuela’s propaganda war
with Exxon and the usual problems in Nigerian oil fields. Back
in the real world, crude oil and gasoline supplies are ample, forecasts
for demand are flat to down worldwide, and Venezuela’s strongman, Hugo
Chavez, has backed off his threat to cut oil deliveries to the United
States, his biggest customer. Even oil cheerleader Tom Kloza of the Oil
Price Information service says the price of oil "makes no sense" and is likely due to speculation. Yet Congress still sits on its hands.
If
our elected representatives can’t summon the guts control hedge fund speculators
and unregulated energy trading markets, families getting a federal
"economic stimulus" check for several hundred dollars this spring will
just send it straight to credit card companies to pay off their
gasoline bills. The result? No stimulus. Click here to see what Congress should do, now. Then call, write or fax your Congressperson and demand passage of the "Close the Enron Loophole Act" by Sen. Dianne Feinstein to curb oil speculators. The regulatory change was folded into the Senate version of the farm bill, which is now in a conference committee that could kill the reform. Here’s the list for finding your Representative’s e-mail, phone and address.