Go Straight to Jail, Do Not Collect A Bail -Out

I watched 60 Minutes this past Sunday and did a slow boil as they exposed the reasons behind $4/gallon gasoline, not to mention $4.26/gallon heating oil. I was surprised not to hear names like Exxon, Mobile, or even OPEC, instead they delved into the unethical world of Morgan Stanley and how via speculation they caused the price of a barrel of oil to skyrocket out of control.

The commodity market was established to help businesses ascertain the cost of raw materials. For example, if a company received an order to make 1,000 widgets a month for an entire year, it would need to know the cost of all of the raw materials that would be needed to make the widgets. Good business sense tells you to buy only what you will need, so the commodity futures market lets you see what the pricing will be 3 months, 6 months and even a year from now. Generally speaking, it may go up or down a bit, but over a year's time tends to even out, or it used to. Enter Hedge Fund Managers. They were not placing buys to create products, they were placing buys to drive the price of oil high, so they could collect a profit. There was no oil shortage, there was even a dramatic drop in demand for oil, yet the price of oil continued to skyrocket. Again, let me say it, the greed and total unethical behaviour of fund managers caused a hardship for all Americans, yet made oodles of money for lots of Funds.

I am reminded of the old Eddie Murphy movie, Trading Places, where the evil brothers wanted to corner the commodity market on oranges and were instead thwarted by the efforts of Dan Akroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Murphy. Great movie, and I envision all of today's greedy fund managers as the less than moral brothers.

I want to know why auditors did not put a stop to this speculation, I thought that manipulating the market via speculation was against the law. I want these people to go to jail. In my opinion they are 10 times worse than Martha Stewart and she did her time, they deserve more, much much more. And Stanley Morgan better not be on the receiving end of any kind of bail-out, unless of course it is from a bail bondsman willing to post bail for the unscrupulous scoundrels.

60 minutes has been part of the scene what seems to me like a lifetime, and they never cease to inform, amaze and tell it like it is. I try not to miss it.