on oil "speculators"
One of the many economic bogeymen of the left (and of national socialists, FWIW) has been the “speculator”. That evil fellow, who drives up prices during times of extreme scarcity while twirling his well-waxed mustache, has been the faceless evil that economic leftists have used to justify massive economic regulation for decades. (Say what you will for Republican foreign policy strawmen, at least they are based on an actual terrorist organization.) Well, those traders engaging in arbitrage (buying low in one market, selling high in another market, inevitably bringing both markets to the same price) don’t seem to be the evil speculators you’re looking for:
Lo and behold, the CFTC found that index traders and swap dealers actually reduced their stake in crude oil futures as prices spiked. The number of contracts held by these investors betting that prices would increase — the net long position — fell by 11%, and more were shorting oil than going long over the six-month period. In other words, index traders and swap dealers were driving the future price of oil down.
But they weren’t hired by the government? How could they possibly be doing good through their own self interest? That’s unpossible! Ooooor maybe we should stop using commodities traders as scapegoats for misfortune and bad policy.