I could go along with some of that.
But restricting who can play in the market would be difficult to do in such a way that doesn't make it easier for big players to manipulate it.
Pension funds, insurance companies, etc., should be investing in less risky things than the commodity markets. I have no problem with regulating things like that.
Personally, I think that cheap gasoline has been a disaster for the US. The price is almost certainly going to go up substantially over the next 20 years and a lot of people are going to be hurt. (Hi Beep! ;-) If, 30 years ago, gas taxes had been slowly raised so that they were [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aQ_oXusAQaWU&refer=europe|75% of the pump price] rather than dimes on the gallon, we probably wouldn't be importing so much of the stuff to feed 10 mpg, 6000 pound commuting vechicles. Our foreign policy wouldn't be tied as strongly to the Saudis and other undemocratic regimes, either.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who thinks that [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bayard_Anderson|John Anderson] was ahead of his time, but still about 10 years too late. He advocated a $0.50/gal gasoline tax in 1980, IIRC.)
