Lambert Strether - Speculation and Criminal Manipulation of Food and Commodities Prices

Yet another market where the rule of law doesn’t apply. Check the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ydxWmWB_lzI

From the transcript:

MICHAEL GREENBERGER, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF LAW: But there’s another problem here, and that is some of these participants—and I’m not saying who they are, but I’m sure there are enough there doing this that they are adversely affecting the price—are actually not just swamping the markets with investments, but they’re working with each other to drive the price up. That is a criminal problem. That is called criminal manipulation of the price. And that is why the president of the United States has now twice asked the Justice Department, once in April 2011 and once in March 2012, to please, please investigate these markets to see if there is criminal wrongdoing.

We had one remedial process fail by Wall Street lobbying, and that is limiting speculation to a reasonable part of the market. And the second part is failing because of prosecutorial laxity, which is going after people who are criminally working with each other to drive the price up. And the quickest way—within a matter of weeks, if there were a serious investigation undertaken, if the FBI was called in, if records were subpoenaed, if market participants were interviewed and the Justice Department at least gave an indication, as they did when they went after the Enron conspirators in the early 2000s, that they were serious about this, just the appearance of a serious investigation would cause the criminal speculators to scatter like cockroaches scatter when lights are turned on.

Hahahaha. Like a “serious investigation would ever happen.” This is Obama we’re talking about.

Read More:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/speculation-and-criminal-manipulation-of-food-and-commodities-prices.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29