A REALLY INTERESTING POINT ON BREAKING OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL: A Conspiracy guest-blogger points out that any effort to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels in order to reduce the relative geopolitical power of the Middle East might have the effect of actually strengthening the region.
It's quite a clever point: Any successful effort to decrease our need for foreign oil would involve decreasing our total dependence on petroleum. This would result in a decline in the world-wide price of oil, which would in turn lead the marginal oil wells, located outside of the Middle East, to become unprofitable and shut down. Middle Eastern oil would come to make up "larger slice of a smaller pie".
It seems to me this would make the Middle Eastern oilocracies less wealthy as an absolute matter, but make them more able to artificially manipulate the oil market like they did in the 1970s. Lacking more specific information, I'd call that a wash. There may be other reasons to use less gas, but "because it will impoverish those whose wealth supports terrorism" probably ain't one of them.
It's quite a clever point: Any successful effort to decrease our need for foreign oil would involve decreasing our total dependence on petroleum. This would result in a decline in the world-wide price of oil, which would in turn lead the marginal oil wells, located outside of the Middle East, to become unprofitable and shut down. Middle Eastern oil would come to make up "larger slice of a smaller pie".
It seems to me this would make the Middle Eastern oilocracies less wealthy as an absolute matter, but make them more able to artificially manipulate the oil market like they did in the 1970s. Lacking more specific information, I'd call that a wash. There may be other reasons to use less gas, but "because it will impoverish those whose wealth supports terrorism" probably ain't one of them.
<< Home