Friday, September 23, 2005
Price of Oil
Instapundit suggested a possible strategic view of US/Western interests with respect to rising oil prices. While his idea is probably off-the-cuff, it intrigued me:
I've often thought it would be wise to use up all the Saudi oil first, only tapping US and friendly reserves as Saudi supplies diminish, since that is when the price is highest and the economic chokepoint most vulnerable. Let the Saudis sell all of theirs fast and cheap, and then as the price rises, bring domestic resources online. Of course there is this little thing called the free market that in its own idiot-savant way humbly shreds every know-it-all strategy. So maybe selling oil when the price is right is the way to go anyway.
But I doubt Instapundit's suggestion is in play here anyway. If our goal was to let the Islamofascists sell themselves out of business, then I doubt we would choose to have them do it at a profitable, high price rather than a low one. It just looks like market-as-usual to me, and in the end that will probably be good enough.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
His suggestion immediately follows a report on the vastness of US oil shale deposits -- potentially many times the size of Saudi oil reserves if I understand correctly -- so it might make sense to approach the Saudis with an understanding of that leverage.
Long term strategic plan for the United States: Get the price of oil up high enough that oil shale competes with Middle East oil. Then put Middle East oil producers out of business, or just let them run out of oil. Oil-funded islamoterror then goes out of business, too, and the Middle East goes back to being an unimportant backwater.
I've often thought it would be wise to use up all the Saudi oil first, only tapping US and friendly reserves as Saudi supplies diminish, since that is when the price is highest and the economic chokepoint most vulnerable. Let the Saudis sell all of theirs fast and cheap, and then as the price rises, bring domestic resources online. Of course there is this little thing called the free market that in its own idiot-savant way humbly shreds every know-it-all strategy. So maybe selling oil when the price is right is the way to go anyway.
But I doubt Instapundit's suggestion is in play here anyway. If our goal was to let the Islamofascists sell themselves out of business, then I doubt we would choose to have them do it at a profitable, high price rather than a low one. It just looks like market-as-usual to me, and in the end that will probably be good enough.
