Submitted by Robert Johnson, Sep 19, 2008 11:22

I am a significant investor, and am a retired, private citizen. I have a better understanding of the financial system than the average person. However, the financial system, as it relates to securities and commodities, has lost its transparency and the public has very little understanding of how it functions. It has become a confusing, complicated "game' that seems designed to yield big profit opportunities for wall street insiders. Stopping the short selling of financial institutions should have been done a long time ago and I agree with John McCain about Cox. The rules regarding the speculation in oil futures should have been stopped a long time ago as well. Inherent supply and demand factors do not account for the huge swing in oil prices. It is pure speculation , and rules should be in place to make speculation more difficult and more expensive. This is coming from a conservative, free market advocate. The functioning of the free market is damaged by greed and corruption and there should be severe penalties for those who participate in this way.

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