and the result is higher prices through speculation that somebody drives up at the gas pump, pays 60 or 8 o bucks for a gas tank full of gas or a trucker pays $1,000 or $12,000 all because of rampant excess speculation. we don t need to investigate it anymore. let s just stop it. so, senator, is the white house just doing a political tap dance on this? what do you think? i ve seen a lot of tap dancing over the years. the president cares about this and all i m saying is that the american people $4 a gallon is kind of a trigger point certainly and the administration understands something has to be done to deal with it. there is no justification for what s happening in these energy markets. the supply and demand doesn t justify what the price is. it just does not. senator dorgan is the president letting down the american people by not advocating position limits? mr. chilton, he could do this. mr. dorgan, first. well, the cftc bart chilton
we re going to make sure that nobody is taking advantage of american consumers. attorney general eric holder said that we will be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident that they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity. let s bring in the commissioner on the consumer futures trading commission, bart chilton and former north dakota senator byron dorgan. thanks for your time tonight. mr. chilton, what is your role going to be in the president s working group on this? we re one of several agencies, ed, that are on this, but let me be clear. there is lots that we can do absent of this task force and the working group. it s important that we have it for a bunch of reasons but as senator dorgan knows the law they passed last year and as you ve talked about in several weeks, we can implement position limits to lower the amount that speculators are having an impact on prices right now and we need to do that.
wall street banks we had to rescue from their gambling problems over sub prime mortgages in the fall of 2008. now that is a heck of a sound bite you just gave us there. i mean if the american people can t grab that and the severity of this i don t know what it s going to take. now do you think that gas prices would fall as soon as position limits are put into place? i think gas prices would fall if position limits were put into place but frankly the president has the power of the bully pulpit here. if he calls out these big banks who have already taken so much from the american people in the bailouts in the great interest rates, low interest rates they have to pay in their gambling and stock marx markekets, jamie just got a $20 million bonus the ceo of jp morgan chase. the president ought to say these bankers who are awash in money, awash in gambling, have to stop. they have to think about the
i mean if the american people can t grab that and the severity of this i don t know what it s going to take. now do you think that gas prices would fall as soon as position limits are put into place? i think gas prices would fall if position limits were put into place but frankly the president has the power of the bully pulpit here. if he calls out these big banks who haíe!already taken so much from the american people in the bailouts in the great interest rates, low interest rates they have to pay in their gambling and stock markets, jamie dimon just got a $23 million bonus the ceo of jp morgan chase. the president ought to say these bankers who are awash in money, awash in gambling, have to stop. they have to think about the public and stop the gambling. in 2008 speaker pelosi introduced legislation that would have ordered the cftc to declare emergencies in these
where the president was on position limits. he said he didn t. where do you stand on position limits? where should the president stand on position limits? i think the president s moving in the right direction on this. i think that he wants to put somebody strong to replace dunn on the commission. i think he s empowered gents ler of the cftc to be aggressive. i know he s fighting for the budget as we are to make sure once the rules are in place, that the budget is enough, that they can go after you know, bring them out of the dark, these speculators, and make sure that they in fact can go after what they need to. it s not just oil prices. it s grain prices. speculators can make a lot of money at the expense of small business, and consumers, and the entire economy as you point out. senator, i m going to switch gears on you and ask you a question about libya, if i may. sure. the president has stated very clear, no ground troops. if by some chance that were to happen, how politic