Reich: ‘Rising gas prices’ controlled by Wall St.

[Playinghardball]

UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich explained Friday evening the real reason for rising gas prices in America, thanks to price speculation on Wall Street and not through “supply and demand.”

Appearing on Current TV’s The War Room, Reich told Jennifer Graholm how President Obama could do little to control the increase at the pump despite prominent Republican figures claiming he could.

“There’s not that much he (Obama) can do about supply and demand, but this isn’t about supply and demand Jennifer,” he said. “This is about speculation. Gas prices are being driven by Wall Street, by hedge fund managers, by hedge fund traders, by banker traders.”

“And isn’t it interesting, do you notice how the Republicans aren’t talking about Wall Street speculators? They are funding Republican campaigns to a much greater extent this time around than Democrats. and the reason is that the Democrats have come down hard with Dodd-Frank.”

WATCH: Video from Current TV, which was broadcast on March 2, 2012.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/03/reich-rising-gas-prices-controlled-by-wall-st/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29

[liberal N proud]

1. And ain't nobody stoping them

[rbnyc]

2. This was a good segment.

It is crazy that more people aren't talking about this.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

5. I had to smack a friend on FaceBook

she had a screed from Townhall.com ranting ignorantly about all manner of things, including gas prices.

I can't believe she swallows this crap, thought she was smarter than this. I do NOT understand. I like her alot, I did not expect to see that crap.

I was pretty stern with my corrections...hope she'll still be my friend ???

[uponit7771]

3. GASOLINE comsumption in the US is LOWER NOW than in the 1980s!! acording EIA.gov link

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=A103600001&f=M

[samfarkus]

4. price action blame game same old story

Newt's an idiot, as a conservative I found it a sad day when he gave in to the lowest common denominator and decided on the $2.50 ploy. But blaming speculators for prices is equally stupid.

If there's a good chance that there will be an oil shortage soon due to a war or embargo, of course people are going to stock up. Gas stations will fill their fuel tanks early, shipping fleets will fill up, etc. Noone's going to sell their gas today for 3$ when they know it's going to be 4$ tomorrow. Obviously the price will go up in anticipation of potential future ills, for the same reason that store shelves empty the day before a hurricane hits.

Blaming people for price action is always stupid, because noone sells 1$ bills for 99 cents. It doesnt mean they're greedy, it's just human nature. These theories have been proven time and time again people. There are over 200 countries out there, and histories going back thousands of years for various economic models. Do you really think that the populist agenda of 'fix the price at X' or 'take from the rich and give to the poor' hasn't been tried ad nauseum?

Why is it that when a supposed 'good' poor immigrant, saves up some money and runs a gas station, he raises his prices in a speculative fashion, and is now a 'greedy' person. Didnt he used to be good and generous? It's because you'd do the same thing if you were him, and if you didn't you'd be sitting there with no gas when the shortage hit, and be out of business the next day. We're all 'greedy'.