We Can Live Without Saudi Oil

Wall St Journal ^ | 11-13-1 | Susan Lee

[weikel]

That has to change weve tried to be loved now its time to be feared.

[mlocher]

how about we just seize the saudi oil

as a christian, i would like to rephrase your thought as,"how about we relieve the saudis and iraqis of their stewarding of your resource"

[mlocher]

wiping out sodom ... was not the objective

time to change the objective.

[Patria One]

When the price is $38 per barrel, they will begin pumping Texas oil again.

[Patria One]

You mean 100 years from now?

[Patria One]

The Caspian Reserves have been hyped. They are adequate not vast.

[Dallas]

Thanks 4.2

Reminds me of what swung Texas from a Democratic state to totally Repubican. We sat in gas-lines (odd & even days depending on your license plate) under Jimmy Carter, while a couple of hundred feet from the gas station was an oil well just pumping away.

Due to the panic, I forget how many arrests were made at gas stations, but it was a bunch. People were a lot nicer in the late seventies, I hate to think of the reaction in today's society....but I digress.

Mexico's Constitution (of all things) limits the amount of oil that can be sold on world markets, and prohibits foreign exploration. Bottom line, it nationalizes their oil, and it must remain under the government control (Pemex).

The largest producing South American (Venezula, etc) countries are members of OPEC. They've already shown they have no loyalty to the U.S., and as history indicates, they love to price gouge us every chance they get. Hence, I think the analyist at Merrill Lynch as wrong about this, as they were on tech stocks last year.

Any thoughts ?

[eno_]

Legitimacy is relative. The House of Saud was never elected, and its power comes from colonial protection. If it is in our interests they are overthrown, who will complain?

At $50 per barrel, all kinds of alternative sources of petroleum become economical, and once production ramps up, that price-point will come down. So the worse case is that prices double in the long term. How will that affect Cisco, Juniper, Dell, Microsoft or Intel? Could you squeeze enough out of your budget to afford 2X the gas bill?

[biblewonk]

Good post. I'm ready to ride my bicycle through the snow to get to work in order to get rid of Saudi Oil.

[Captain Kirk]

The U.S. was a "republic." Those days are long gone.

[zeugma]

could be a hundred years from now. Could be less if we can get the rest of the world to understand that property rights (and the associated contract law) is the key to prosperity.

[Patria One]

"and its power comes from colonial protection"

What colonial protection was that?

[nunya bidness]

Here's a better version.

[Oldtory]

You make a lot of sense. One thing to be remembered is that although most people in the US don't know it. Canada is the biggest oil supplier to the US AND the reserves in the oil sands in Alberta are greater than all of the middle east.If the US can stop being trade bullies and practice real free trade then North America does not need their oil.

[biblewonk]

i hope gas is $30.00 a gal.by the 4 of july then the eviro wacko can not stop anwr or the drilling off the us

Unless something happens in the middle east gas is going to be pretty cheap this year. Venezuala called off their strike and oil dropped a dollar.