Oilagarchy

[Jeffrey Fisher]

like the united states (or any other gov't) always pursues a fully  
rational economic or foreign policy with no contradictions,  
complications, compromises, or internal conflicts? now *that* is a  
bizarre premise, indeed. it seems as if our friend mr. proudman is  
actually the one running a homo oeconomicus argument . . .


>     One useful point, below, "...these two often-conflated accusations  
>  -- that the United
> States wants cheap oil and that it wants oil company  profits -- are
> mutually contradictory. Oil companies make more money  when the price  
> is
> high: The United States cannot want both cheap oil  and high prices."

well, technically, they make more money when they can keep margins  
high, which high prices help, but lower costs also help. to be able to  
provide (relatively or at least acceptably) cheap oil to american  
consumers does not necessarily conflict with high profits for oil  
companies, as long as they can keep costs down to the point  that they  
can make money and edge out foreign competitors . . . no?

perhaps part of the problem here is that the term "United States" is a  
tad, dare i say it, overdetermined?

j


>
>    The rest we can argue about.
>    And Mick Jagger is a grad of the LSE.
> Michael Pugliese
>
> http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id={834DE13F- 
> 6607-4796-B301-CEF90D5946DB}
> Critics say U.S. foreign policy is driven by a desire  for cheap oil.  
> In
> fact, the West's primary concern in the Persian Gulf  is not economic,  
> it's
> strategic     by Mark Proudman
>
> <snip>