An Open Letter To All Airline Customers: A Response To Concerns of Oil Speculation

I received a copy of this letter from one of my business partners yesterday.

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers. Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation. Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs. Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper. The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem. We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com. Richard Anderson CEO Delta Air Lines, Inc. Gerard J. Arpey Chairman, President and CEO American Airlines, Inc. Bill Ayer Chairman, President and CEO Alaska Airlines, Inc. Dave Barger CEO JetBlue Airways Corporation Mark B. Dunkerley President and CEO Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. Robert Fornaro Chairman, President and CEO AirTran Airways Timothy E. Hoeksema Chairman, President and CEO Midwest Airlines Lawrence W. Kellner Chairman and CEO Continental Airlines, Inc. Gary Kelly Chairman and CEO Southwest Airlines Co. Douglas Parker Chairman and CEO US Airways Group, Inc. Douglas M. Steenland President and CEO Northwest Airlines, Inc. Glenn F. Tilton Chairman, President and CEO United Airlines, Inc.

The whole premise of the capitalist market system is "price discovery". If the so called speculators are successful in pushing the price of oil, corn, gold, etc...higher this simply means that there are more buyers than sellers which means that the market feels that higher prices are justified. The fact that speculators have been successful in pushing prices higher means that there is a problem out there. In the oil market, that problem goes by many names, but the most common name for it is PEAK OIL. The easy to get at supplies of oil are no longer there thanks to geo-political mis-adventures by the White House over the past several decades. In the grain markets we have seen record high prices which too signal a problem. That problem is called POOR POLICY. The Bush Administration awarded subsidies to anyone seeking to produce ethanol from grain. This has taken huge amounts of grain out of the food chain and re-directed it to the fuel market. In the Gold market we have seen record high prices at the hands of speculators which signals a problem. That problem is called RECKLESS MONEY SUPPLY MANAGEMENT. People have lost faith in fiat currencies. I find it interesting that people are now bitching and complaining about poor regulation etc.... I am sorry but this is all too little, too late. Instead of pointing a finger at a moving target called "speculators" , maybe the crowd in Washington ought to get off its ass and formulate a energy policy that makes sense. Quit meddling in the Middle East. Start to develop some of the massive coal deposits that America has. The technology exists to turn coal into fuel (see S. African firm Sassol which trades on the NYSE). The technology also exists to sequester carbon emissions from coal fired power plants. How about maybe cutting out the red tape and making it such that a nuclear reactor can be built in a matter of 2 years from the time the idea is hatched. America is at a critical tipping point. If action is not taken right now in Washington, the way of life America has enjoyed up until now is going to vanish. That's how I see it where I stand up here north of the 49th parallel.