Money | speculators As Prices Soar, Congress Aims at Speculators Out-of-control traders may be driving up oil, food costs, pols say By Kevin Spak Posted Jun 13, 2008 8:30 AM CDT Copied High gas prices posted at both a Valero gas station, which is a Exxon-branded gas station in California, and Shell gas stations in San Bruno, Calif., Thursday, May 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) Congress is blaming rampant commodity speculation for rocketing gas and food prices, and berating regulators for letting it happen, the New York Times reports. Unless watchdog groups like the Commodities Futures Trading Commision crack down, Carl Levin says, "we don’t have a cop on the beat.." Joe Lieberman has even introduced a bill to ban institutional investors from commodity markets. Speculators are a market necessity, adding the liquidity that keeps prices reasonably stable. But big speculators, the congressmen argue, are manipulating the market illicitly. “There is a difference between speculation and excessive speculation,” says Lieberman, but Congress has to “legislate that definition better. We can’t just say, as Justice Potter Stewart once said of pornography, that we know it when we see it.” Read These Next She was born at a McDonald's, so obviously this is her nickname. Two Powerball players have a lot of financial planning to do. Trump may be targeting this city next due to a misleading news report. South Korea to pick up workers held at Hyundai plant. Report an error