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Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

paulkrugman.substack.com

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Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#51

Post by pzo »

tekla wrote: post #23
mentalgear wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

funny aside: rothshields were mentioned more than trump in the epstein files, yet no outlet even touched that fact..

Of course this is a complete lie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_of_Jeffrey_Epstein... https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/the-rothschild-dynasty-s... https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/epstein-files-show-... https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/02/05/j...

the question is if those links and thumbnail were back then on the front page / timeline. Because otherwise how you supposed to know about the news if you have to google it first.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#52

Post by blitzar »

gruez wrote: post #4

So if this sort of "insider trading" is bad, what does this mean for other sorts off strategies hedge funds do to get an edge, like flying helicopters to look at how full oil storage tanks are? Should that be banned too? The article basically argues that any sort of edge is bad because it disincentivizes others from participating. edit: see my subsequent comment. I'm not saying corruption is good. The whole point of…

> like flying helicopters to look at how full oil storage tanks are

Unless the helicopter is dropping a bomb on a school on the way there (or back) I am not sure that the comparison is fair.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#53

Post by giarc »

What if it's not insider trading and in fact the Trump inner circle has been compromised and foreign actors are trading on the news? You might think they wouldn't want to expose themselves just to make some money on oil futures, but at this point, they are bringing in billions.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#54

Post by vkou »

Havoc wrote: post #43

The worst part is the sharp changes in the price being traded aren't achieved by magic but rather with guns & actual human suffering

The war must continue in order to bring us to the status quo that was in place before we started the war.

I hope that everyone responsible for this is enjoying every cent of what they get to pay at the pumps.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#55

Post by gruez »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #45
gruez wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, that's bad, but still under "corruption", which is not what I, or the article is addressing.

A market maker who doesn't know if their counterparty is a Trump insider looking to fleece them must ask for a bigger safety margin to cover the risk they are taking -- and not just from the insiders. Honest participants in the market get taxed in order to provide the insider payout. This is extremely basic incenive / money-flow tracing and "setting aside corruption" is a premise that has the hairs on the back of my…

>A market maker who doesn't know if their counterparty is a Trump insider looking to fleece them must ask for a bigger safety margin to cover the risk they are taking -- and not just from the insiders. Honest participants in the market get taxed in order to provide the insider payout.

That's still corruption. Your argument about other participants being "taxed" applies for other sophisticated counterparties as well, eg. hedge funds with armies of analysts and can fly helicopters around to gather intel. Unless you want to say that's bad too, the only difference between the two is that the hedge fund isn't engaging in corruption.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#56

Post by selectodude »

gruez wrote: post #44
selectodude wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, just come out and say you’re okay with them doing what they’re doing. Stop making arguments that are just verifiably untrue. > Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to declare that such Members and employees owe a duty arising from a relationship of trust and confidence to Congress, the U.S. government, and U.S. citizens with respect to material, nonpublic information derived from their positions as Member…

>Look, just come out and say you’re okay with them doing what they’re doing Don't put words in my mouth. Moreover I'm not sure how you can come to the conclusion that I'm "re okay with them doing what they’re doing", when I specifically acknowledged they have a duty not to leak classified intel. >Members and employees owe a duty arising from a relationship of trust and confidence to Congress, the U.S. government, and…

I’m not entirely sure if you understand what fiduciary duty actually means if you read federal ethics laws and don’t make the connection. Just because you can’t control+f “fiduciary duty” doesn’t mean the concept isn’t identical. Hell, there’s literally a law that bans insider trading futures on unknown information. Not “kind of like it”, literally named verbatim.

And I’m not putting words in your mouth, I’m just calling out your revealed preferences.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#57

Post by leonidasrup »

selectodude wrote: post #42
gruez wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and fiduciary duty not to trade and not to disclose information. The people working in the US government have that obligation No they don't. They might have duties not to leak classified information, but not fiduciary duty.

Look, just come out and say you’re okay with them doing what they’re doing. Stop making arguments that are just verifiably untrue. > Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to declare that such Members and employees owe a duty arising from a relationship of trust and confidence to Congress, the U.S. government, and U.S. citizens with respect to material, nonpublic information derived from their positions as Member…

"Members of Congress outperformed the S&P 500—sometimes by huge amounts"

https://fortune.com/2024/01/03/members-of-congress-profit-fr...

"Congressional Stock Trading: The Law, the Conflicts, and the Push for a Ban"

https://govfacts.org/accountability-ethics/ethics-conflicts-...

"The 2 ETFs That Track Congressional Stock Trades"

https://www.morningstar.com/funds/2-etfs-that-track-congress...

The insider trading on oil futures is just on much bigger scale.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#58

Post by tdb7893 »

gruez wrote: post #4

So if this sort of "insider trading" is bad, what does this mean for other sorts off strategies hedge funds do to get an edge, like flying helicopters to look at how full oil storage tanks are? Should that be banned too? The article basically argues that any sort of edge is bad because it disincentivizes others from participating. edit: see my subsequent comment. I'm not saying corruption is good. The whole point of…

If those hedge funds are doing something that stops the market from functioning then of course there should be intervention but it doesn't seem clear to me at all that hedge funds trying to get an edge (especially in a way that's replicable by other funds) has the same effect as rampant insider trading in regards to destroying the market.

Re: Grand Theft Oil Futures: Insider traders keep making a killing at our expense

#60

Post by skinfaxi »

vkou wrote: post #54
Havoc wrote: post #43

The worst part is the sharp changes in the price being traded aren't achieved by magic but rather with guns & actual human suffering

The war must continue in order to bring us to the status quo that was in place before we started the war. I hope that everyone responsible for this is enjoying every cent of what they get to pay at the pumps.

> I hope that everyone responsible for this is enjoying every cent of what they get to pay at the pumps.

As if the people responsible actually feel the impact of their choices to that degree.

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