[Occupymendocino] price of oil and Commodities Futures Trading Act

[agnes at mcn.org]

Senator Barbara Boxer
112 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington,D.C. 20510

The Honorable Senator Boxer;
         I write you about two changes needed.
       I am your constituent and live in northern CA where the price of
oil has skyrocketed. I urge you to rein in speculation in the
energy and commodity trading by number (1) passing a tax on
speculative transactions.And  limit the number of futures contracts
financial players can hold at any one time as suggested by the
Commodities Futures Trading Commission in 2010.(CFTC)


The price of oil has less to do with scarcity than with speculation. Since
1991 the Commodities Futures commission has given secret exemptions from
hedging regulations to 19 major banks and market participants, allowing
them to accumulate essentially unlimited positions on trading in
commodities. These exemptions were originally given in secret.

The Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 ensured the deregulation
of financial products. Over-the-counter (outside of regulation)
derivatives  transactions between parties would not be regulated  as
futures under the  CFTC of 1936 or or as securities under the federal
securities law.

. A trader or bank granted an exemption as a bona-fide hedger can affect
the price of a commodity without being a producer or consumer as was
stipulated in the original 1936 law . This means prices of commodities as
oil, grain,gas, soybeans are decided on Wall Street speculation and there
is no seperation of inventment banks from Savings Banks. The derivatives
bubble is due to collapse and the bail-in on 700 Trillion in unfunded
derivatives in major big banks will cause  the collapse of our economy in
a short time.(2) I urge you to reinstate the Glass-Stegall Act.

Sincerely,
Agnes Woolsey
P.O. Box 163
Mendocino,CA 95460