This article gives a breaking development with some context , alerting savvy readers that they need to know more. explains that the rationale for bipartisan legislation: that "many larger institutional investors have exploited an exemption that allows them to bypass those limits if they make the trades through dealers or brokers." It provides some information on what else is in the hopper. It omits that the "windfall" bill included a provision to reign in the commodities market. It is interesting to see this bill decouples those two and has the support of Ted Stevens, a powerful Alaska Republican. The story would be more helpful if it provided bill names and numbers so that a citizen can find out more and weigh in. And it would ... More »

I think the story under emphasized the main point. Congress is intent on regulating (by inquiry) something it admits it doesn't understand. The story also leaves out the global aspects of regulation. It has nothing to say about global markets. Only American ones. It also makes no note of supply and demand (the underlying forces at work). They leave out Congress' role in limiting American supplies of oil. No mention is made of speculation's role in bringing more supplies on line. I'd rate the article good on political details, bad on economics.

This is reporting, not journalism. Journalism should include analysis which this story does not. Speculation in commodities markets is both an effect and a cause of speculative bubbles that artificially force companies to keep churning more and more materials from the earth. The more materials they extract, the more they have to sell in order to pay for their investments in new capacity which is spurred on by speculative bubbles that raise the prices. This is a never ending feedback loop that will destroy the natural foundations of the world including the humans. Instead of investing in new capacity for extracting virgin materials these companies should be investing in technologies that reprocess discarded materials ... More »

I don't question the need for proper regulation of commodity markets. Surely traders will try to get away with whatever they can get away with unless there's a cop on that beat. But this article fails to explore the core reality upon which any speculator in commodities operates; they exploit conditions created by natural or man-made circumstances. The current tightening in oil prices has as much or more to do with growing demand and dwindling supply as it does with speculators who are simply looking at that condition as figuring that less oil means more expensive oil... and so far they've been right about that.