Erick Tippett

Economics of Oil Futures Trading, Part II

Mr. Perry

I understand your explanations concerning the economics of oil futures trading quite well. However, to expect the American public, which is woefully uneducated in economics, to grasp these concepts concerning market dynamics is rather unrealistic in my view however unfortunate.

You also mention the quote of Bloomberg's Hasset that if speculators raise the price of oil today it forces people to voluntarily
use less oil. You also personally comment that "speculators don't
recieve attention when they are lowering spot prices, but only when they are raising spot prices".

Assuming speculators are in the business of making profits, my question in view of these statements is, do speculators profit
when they are influencial in lowering spot prices as opposed to when they are raising them?