Reposted from "Economics" forum: Below is a link to an article by F. W. Engdahl concerning the manipulation of oil prices. He goes into some detail about the involvement of various exchanges, the CFTC, US investment banks, large hedge funds and large pension funds. He concludes that there may be significant (40-50%) "speculator-induced" inflation of the current price of oil. Could someone tell me whether the "pathway" he outlines is correct? In essence he says that the CFTC does not intervene when US traders use ICE terminals to trade WTI on the ICE Futures Exchange in London and thereby avoid all US market oversight. He outlines the consequences of this lack of oversight. Any comments would be appreciated. lj http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global...y/JE06Dj07.html
Another book to read to give an insight to this rise in oil prices. We can thank Goldmansachs for that. Interesting how they come out with their prediction of oil prices and then prices rocket higher. No mystery there. http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/2005/Engdahl.html
Thanks sttrader for correcting that link. A voice of reason in this confusion [already mentioned in several threads but worth reading]. Italics/bold = mine. lj
In the post immediately above I was being sarcastic, ironic, whatever because what Goldman says about oil prices is pretty much diametrically opposed to what Engdahl says. If there is no oversight on how oil is traded (basically no COT-like reports) then how can one say that the price hasn't been or isn't being manipulated? So who is more credible? Engdahl or Goldman? lj