Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire investor who once ran one of the world’s largest hedge funds, was found guilty on Wednesday of fraud and conspiracy by a federal jury in Manhattan. He is the most prominent figure convicted in the government’s crackdown on insider trading on Wall Street.
Mr. Rajaratnam was convicted on all 14 counts.
Mr. Rajaratnam, dressed in a black suit, had no expression as the verdict was read in the overflowing courtroom.
His lawyer, John Dowd, said he would appeal.
No surprise here. Now, if the Feds would only go after oil market speculators with the same zeal, that would really be something!
And what crime would oil market, gold market, corn market, you-name-the-market speculators be guilty of? Playing the market trends to make a profit? I have a few stocks I watch closely and over the years I have learned how they trend given economic news and conditions. Over those years I have made several thousand $$$ on that public information. Will you lock me up also?
Those of you who are letting Pres Obama point you to oil speculators as the causes of higher gasoline prices are being played for fools.
If the Pres (no chance of this) announced tomorrow that ALL American oil reserves were now open for immediate exploration and development, oil prices would nose-dive and the hated speculators would intensify the dive as they changed their bets to “more supply chasing demand” than today’s paradigm which is “less and less supply to meet rising demand”.
Look, we’ve been lied to and had our pockets picked for so long that we don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t, so isn’t it for everyone in the oil industry to come clean? This guy Rajapatnam is getting what he deserved, and if there [i]is[/i] price-gouging somewhere along the line, shouldn’t the gougers have to pay for what they’re doing to the consumer?
I don’t mind paying a reasonable price at the pump, but when it costs me $80 to fill up the tank, and we have to do without something else because of that, then I think we consumers have a right to be angry…..as I am! And yes, I too have made some money now and then on investments, and I do think investors have a right to make money, but when making money turns into making such huge profits as the oil companies have made while the price of crude declines and the pump prices climb, that’s an entirely different matter.
I meant to say that “isn’t it time for everyone in the oil industry to come clean?”
Hi C-13, you have a right to be mad at what it is costing you for gasoline, I agree 100%. What I am suggesting is that people direct their anger in the direction most responsible for the problems we face so that we have the greatest chance at solving those problems.
The progressive left, in cahoots with enviromental whackos, have hog-tied energy policy in this country for over 50 years and now we see the consequences for accomodating that foolishness. Our oil and coal reserves cannot be tapped, our nuclear energy industry has been wrapped in so many layers of red tape it is for the most part ineffectual. We lack the refinery capacity we need because of the same layers of red tape.
Meanwhile, the same dishonest politicians who have put us in this mess, raise up red herrings like oil company profits and executive pay and speculators as the culprits so that we divert our righteous anger down those false rabbit trails.
The oil companies need to make billions so that can spend billions on development. The EPA just flushed $4B of Shell money down the toilet by refusing an air permit in the remotest section of Alaska.
I have owned and purchased Exxon stock for the last 40 years. If you take the stock appreciation and dividends together, I maybe have generated a (pre-tax) return of ~6%. That’s not bad for a long range return, but it is not the gusher of gold that the dishonest progressive politicians want you to believe.
Over that same period of time we have gone from importing ~30% of our oil to now importing ~70% of our oil and we now import gasoline because of our puny refinery capacity.
You can’t treat cancer by taking asprin. You can’t fix our energy problem by shouting at oil speculators.
I think the question is one of whom to direct our anger at. Congress? Hah! Fat lot of good [i]that[/i] would do! [i]They’re[/i] part of the problem! The EPA? Maybe.
Now that Mr Rajaratnam has been found guilty, let’s hope the government will go after the rest of the rats.
Let’s direct our anger first at the top, the President. We need a president who will finally show leadership on Energy. Then at Congress; do not vote for more of the same, demand energy independence, America first!
Why the hell are we so ashamed to put America first?
Part of the anger about high commodities prices needs to be pointed at ourselves. I was running today around my neighborhood and there were parents lined up to pick their kids up from the bus stop (which is along a street in town). Virtually every car was turned on and running while they waited for their kids for 15-20 minutes. That is zero miles per gallon. Some of them consisted of a single person in a giant SUV. I am pretty much a libertarian, so if they want to buy SUVs and keep them running, then let them, but you can’t complain about $4.00/gallon gas and then drive like gas is free. I am a strong believer in conservation, not necessarily for environmental reasons, but because I hate getting hosed by big business, big banks, the federal reserve (which makes money virtually free to big banks which then use it to speculate), OPEC, our government, etc. Every time that car is running and not moving, it is more money going to people that don’t care about me or the middle class. Americans need to wake up and realize this, instead of simply complaining and blaming (and I agree, there is blame to go around, just look at all the entities I mentioned above).
DavidBennett, where I live, there is no regional mass transit. No light rail. No express train to Silicon Valley. We are an agricultural area. Our small city has four high schools, one junior high school, and sixteen elementary schools. Our bus fleet is overworked, many of our students have to walk to the high schools because of that overload, and unless they want to stand on the buses for over an hour each way in some cases, their parents drop them off and pick them up at school. Many of the seniors drive to and from school…..those who have cars, and they also transport classmates if they’re old enough to be able to carry passengers.
Since we don’t live in a major metropolitan area, many of our parents really have little choice in seeing that their children get to and from school by driving them. You mentioned idling engines and the gas ‘wasted ‘ by idling, but you didn’t mention that shutting off the engine and then restarting it can use a teacup full of gasoline each time you do that. Either way, the gas gets used. Weare also an economically depressed area, with no high tech industries and very little prospect of attracting any, despite the fact that we have the workforce ready, willing and able to work. People want to work, but employers are not willing to come here, even though we have everything they need to come here and open facilities.
We have to [i]drive……period.[/i] We have no other choice. Pickup trucks and SUVs are the norm here just as they would be in any other rural area. It’s a fact of life.
[i] restarting it can use a teacup full of gasoline each time [/i]
Cennydd, I think this was the case with older carbureted engines. I’m fairly certain that this is not the case with modern fuel injection.
#11 is correct. In modern cars, there is no gas wasted starting and stopping an engine. I am pretty sure that if you turn it off for more than 5 seconds you save gas by turning it off instead of idling. Perhaps this information needs to be more widely disseminated. This is basically what some hybrids to do save gas. They effectively turn the engine off when the car is idling.
#10. If people owning giant cars, and idling them, is inevitable, then people need to stop complaining about high gas prices. I also live in a rural area where people need to drive a lot, as I do. Many people in my area of Ohio do need a truck or SUV, but most do not “need” it, unless as a way to boost social status. But like I said, I am not denying the right of a 100 pound soccer mom to drive a Hummer (she could drive a semi for that matter), but what I am saying is that we need to realize we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. If people want to idle their cars, drive giant vehicles, etc, then they have that right, but they at least need to understand basic supply and demand, which dictates that using a lot of a finite resource is going to raise the price of it.
I’m so glad I live, worship, work, and shop right here in my neighborhood.
I drive a toyota yaris that gets me 48 mpg. However I drive over 80 miles each day (carpooling with my sister and child). If prices climb, I may buy closer in.
However I do not blame the oil companies for the price of gasoline. If you print money in order to pay debts (as our government is doing) that money will buy less. The debasement of the dollar is the reason that not only gasoline, but food, and in the near future even consumer goods are costing more. The solution is not to demagogue oil “speculators” but to vote out all politicians who are not committed to slashing government (including of necessity entitlements such as SS and Medicare) and reducing the national debt.
How about eliminating federal subsidies? And how about voting out of office every politician in Washington who refuses to vote for repeal of those subsidies…..including BHO? That would do for starters. Remember, there’s a general election in 2012.