Originally Posted by
bbtp
ok - why shouldn't I be able to loan money to a guy so that he can buy oil futures, sex toys, online degrees, or an over-priced abode? why is it any of Congress's business?
this is America - supposedly a free country. passing laws prohibiting trade agreements which two parties enter into voluntarily for mutual benefits is flat out UN-American. if someone wants to loan the $$$ (at his own risk!) to someone else to speculate in oil futures, so be it. if they're wrong, they'll both get what's coming to them... in the long run, they don't injure anyone else - they just ensure the markets remain liquid.
Are you serious with that statement? Sit down and think how much the price of everything around you has gone up over the last 12-18 months. I did not say you could not loan someone money to invest in oil. I simply said that the investor should be required to have more "skin in the game" than a lousy 10%. People act far more rationally when their own money is involved. We have seen the same mentality at work with the dot com crash, and the housing bubble. People will get in over their heads with the hopes of striking it rich. I can't stand big government, but every law governing markets was put in place after somebody got screwed. Oil is a national security concern, nothing else has such a wide ranging effect on our economy and daily lives.
When you say they'll get what's coming to them if they're wrong, who do you think ultimately foots the bill every time markets loose touch with fundamentals?