They've got us coming & going

When the Rockies vs. Royals game ended early, I happened upon C-SPAN’s broadcast of the House Sub-Committee on Energy & Commerce where various expert panels were providing testimony regarding speculation in the Oil Futures Market. Generally, this stuff is pretty dry, but given the recent political hyperbole and aspersions being cast about, I spent the next four hours watching.

I was surprised to learn that most of the speculation in this market was actually being conducted by Public Pension Funds; Labor Unions, Teachers Unions, Public Employee Unions all desperately looking for windfall profits to subsidize their onerous fiscal obligations to retirees. How ironic, the very special interest groups who contribute exclusively to elect democrats, now are revealed to be the ones who are profiting on the backs of the working poor, small businesspeople and consumers (women and children hit hardest) through questionable speculative trading.

Congressman Jay Inslee (d –WA) asked representatives of the Trucking and Airline Industries why they now needed Congress to solve (their) problem (high fuel costs) with new government regulation of the Futures Market? The answer is that Congressional Democrats have caused this problem by restricting the Oil Company’s exploration for more supply, through regulation.

When it comes to the high cost of oil & gas, democrats are squeezing both the supply and the price. Meanwhile, they’re blaming Big Oil, Enron-like speculators and, of course, President Bush.