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

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 07, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

cbdevidal wrote: post #108

hrldcpr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably people who voted for Trump are somewhat responsible, and include a lot of car drivers. (Not to imply that many Democrat politicians aren't also owned by AIPAC and big business.)

I didn’t vote for Trump but I don’t blame the voters. I don’t think many people foresaw him doing this on either side of the political aisle. Other stuff we disapprove of, yes. But not this. I say that because he had famously resisted to enter extended conflict in his first term. Maybe he wanted to but now has the chance since he’s in his final years. (At least, I hope it’s his final years.) But I didn’t hear anyone…

Post by ndsipa_pomu » Thu, May 07, 2026, 2:25 PM UTC

cbdevidal wrote: post #108

hrldcpr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably people who voted for Trump are somewhat responsible, and include a lot of car drivers. (Not to imply that many Democrat politicians aren't also owned by AIPAC and big business.)

I didn’t vote for Trump but I don’t blame the voters. I don’t think many people foresaw him doing this on either side of the political aisle. Other stuff we disapprove of, yes. But not this. I say that because he had famously resisted to enter extended conflict in his first term. Maybe he wanted to but now has the chance since he’s in his final years. (At least, I hope it’s his final years.) But I didn’t hear anyone…

Post by shermantanktop » Thu, May 07, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

coredog64 wrote: post #132

By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's - Paul Krugman, 1998 Excuse me if I take the Krug-o-tron's opinions with a grain of salt.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 07, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #162

smallmancontrov wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a tax. I don't know if you specifically are one of the "taxation is theft" types, but it's absolutely wild how many of these are totally cool with the tax if it's funding insider trading payouts but not if it's paying for poor person healthcare or whatever.

In the absence of the insider trader selling you oil futures on the basis of his insider knowledge, what would you do? You'd buy oil futures at broadly the same price from someone else (maybe a worse price! Because the presence of the insider selling is already driving the price down). So how exactly do you lose? The only people who lose out are those whose limit orders don't get filled because the insider outbid the…

Post by philipallstar » Thu, May 07, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

david-gpu wrote: post #128

cbdevidal wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t vote for Trump but I don’t blame the voters. I don’t think many people foresaw him doing this on either side of the political aisle. Other stuff we disapprove of, yes. But not this. I say that because he had famously resisted to enter extended conflict in his first term. Maybe he wanted to but now has the chance since he’s in his final years. (At least, I hope it’s his final years.) But I didn’t hear anyone…

You make a good point. At the same time, when he broke his electoral promise to stop foreign interfefence and kidnapped Maduro, his voter base did not turn against him. That seems to have emboldened him to pursue more military actions abroad. Now let's see how long until he invades Cuba, and how his voters will react.