Via Reuters.
(Reuters) - The U.S. futures regulator on Tuesday sued two veteran oil traders and their employers, the Arcadia and Parnon Energy firms, charging they booked $50 million in profits by manipulating oil prices in 2008.
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The CFTC said James Dyer and Nick Wildgoose -- former senior traders at oil major BP (BP.L) -- directed the manipulative trading scheme. The complaint, among the agency's biggest charges of wrongdoing in energy markets, said the scheme yielded more than $50 million in unlawful profits.
I supposed that would explain this then?
Naturally rather than recognize the truth, Republicans have been trying to somehow blame Obama for the high Oil prices because he supposedly "wants to promote alternative energy" and because of his decision to temporarily halt exploratory drilling in the Gulf after one of the largest Oil Spill In History by.. BP!
The Obama administration is "pursuing an agenda to raise the price Americans pay for energy," House Republicans charged in a report released late Monday — repeating an accusation they've made before, but this time laying it out in a 43-page document just ahead of what's likely to be a contentious hearing Tuesday morning.
Republicans on Darrell Issa's House Oversight committee are pulling out all the stops to skewer EPA chief Lisa Jackson and Interior Deputy Secretary David Hayes at the 9 a.m. hearing on "pain at the pump" and the policies that promote it.
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The report includes repeats of GOP allegations that the administration wants high gasoline prices to advance its renewable energy agenda, along with fresh attacks on regulations by EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies.
But the reality is the Oil Prices have been manipulated by Speculators.
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson admitted earlier this month that, according to traditional supply and demand, oil should cost about $60 or $70 per barrel, instead of hovering around $100. Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that speculation was adding roughly $27 per barrel earlier this month
And of course while they're heaping blame on Obama, they're also doing their darndest to cut CFTC funding by 15%
The CFTC’s budget would fall to $172 million from $202 million under the plan to be considered tomorrow by the agriculture subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. It “provides the necessary resources” for the CFTC to fulfill its duties, Representative Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican and subcommittee chairman, said in a statement. President Barack Obama had requested $308 million in his 2012 budget proposal.
So while a set of bank robbers are ripping the nation off and trashing the economy in the process the GOP is screaming "Look Over There!" while disabling the bank's security cameras and firing their security guards.
Typical