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Wall Street Steals Hundreds of Billions of Dollars from Consumers Annually

syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
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Beer, bikes, gas, electricity, etc, you name and they are ripping you off. They are on track to do the same in copper now. Just what they have in mind for new sources like tar sands and fracked natural gas on track to be exported in new US terminals across the country. Deregulation is great if you are rich or completely stupid...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/a-shuffle-of-aluminum-but-to-banks-pure-gold.html

"The inflated aluminum pricing is just one way that Wall Street is flexing its financial muscle and capitalizing on loosened federal regulations to sway a variety of commodities markets, according to financial records, regulatory documents and interviews with people involved in the activities.

The maneuvering in markets for oil, wheat, cotton, coffee and more have brought billions in profits to investment banks like Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while forcing consumers to pay more every time they fill up a gas tank, flick on a light switch, open a beer or buy a cellphone. In the last year, federal authorities have accused three banks, including JPMorgan, of rigging electricity prices, and last week JPMorgan was trying to reach a settlement that could cost it $500 million.

Using special exemptions granted by the Federal Reserve Bank and relaxed regulations approved by Congress, the banks have bought huge swaths of infrastructure used to store commodities and deliver them to consumers — from pipelines and refineries in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas; to fleets of more than 100 double-hulled oil tankers at sea around the globe; to companies that control operations at major ports like Oakland, Calif., and Seattle."

"By controlling warehouses, pipelines and ports, banks gain valuable market intelligence, investment analysts say. That, in turn, can give them an edge when trading commodities. In the stock market, such an arrangement might be seen as a conflict of interest — or even insider trading. But in the commodities market, it is perfectly legal."

"Some investors and analysts say that the banks have helped consumers by spurring investment and making markets more efficient. But even banks have, at times, acknowledged that Wall Street’s activities in the commodities market during the last decade have contributed to some price increases.

In 2011, for instance, an internal Goldman memo suggested that speculation by investors accounted for about a third of the price of a barrel of oil. A commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal regulator, subsequently used that estimate to calculate that speculation added about $10 per fill-up for the average American driver. Other experts have put the total, combined cost at $200 billion a year."
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stevew

stevew

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Sep 21, 2001
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don't vote for anyone then....wall street always has someone in the white house looking out for them.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
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VT
stevew said:
don't vote for anyone then....wall street always has someone in the white house looking out for them.
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Did you pay attention in US history class? Market regulation worked last time this happened in the 30s - it took over 60 years to remove those barriers thanks to voting for the wrong people on unrelated issue(s).
 
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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
why so serious?
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It's better to focus on trivial BS like celebrities or spectator sports while being robbed blind then? Better to riot because your favorite sports team wins/loses rather than because Wall Street is robbing you or backwards laws in the South kill unarmed kids?

They are stealing your beer man, that's why you were at the fridge...
 
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stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,599
9,608
syadasti said:
It's better to focus on trivial BS like celebrities or spectator sports while being robbed blind then? Better to riot because your favorite sports team wins/loses rather than because Wall Street is robbing you or backwards laws in the South kill unarmed kids?

They are stealing your beer man, that's why you were at the fridge...
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i don't drink beer.

never rioted over sports.

laws don't kill kids....other kids grownups do.
 
stoney

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
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Take it to PaWN. Either way, as long as outside financing is allowed in elections and under educated people are voting based on a book instead of their best interest, this will continue.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
i save my deep thinking/serious thought for the morning/evening sh!t.
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You need to eat more moral fiber, you have diarrhea. Just because theft or murder becomes legal again doesn't make it preferable to ignore.
 
stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,599
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moral fiber?

whatever you say jesus.
 
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stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,599
9,608
syadasti...do you care about Quianna Tompkins yet?

waiting for jay-z to write a song about her?
 
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