Gingrich with plan to punish oil speculators

[bobblehead]

Newt Gingrich on O'Reilly just stated we should dump half of Americas strategic reserves into the market immediately to punish the speculators who are helping push oil prices even higher.

THIS is why I love this guy. I realize that the speculators aren't the main cause of the price increases, but they aren't helping matters.

[red]

i thought speculators were the main reason

i thought it came out a few weeks ago that something like half of the cost of oil is because of speculators

even the saudis said there is absolutely no reason for the price being so high right now

i have no clue if opening up the reserves would do the trick or not, but something has to be done about the speculators

[MJZiggy]

Short term solution to a long-term problem.

[bobblehead]

No, its not mostly the speculators, it is a supply and demand issue and the worlds largest producers are making sure they limit supply. The speculators are aware of this and taking advantage of it as they know there is always demand.

Yes, its a short term solution, but that is why we keep a reserve, for short term blips. We need long term solutions without a doubt, but we are NOT working on them. Our current strategy is "wait until renewable energy becomes cheap enough to get us off oil" The most optimistic people don't forcast that happening for 5 years minimum.

[texaspackerbacker]

I really don't see how this idea would help. Speculators don't thrive so much on steady upward movement as on a zig-zag upward curve. This idea would temporarily dampen prices, folllowed probably by a new steady rise. That, if anything, would benefit speculators, especially if the move wasn't done with swift secrecy--fat chance of that.

On top of that, the strategic reserve probably should be kept for some kind of tangible crisis, not just difficult market conditions.