Oilagarchy

Jeffrey Fisher jfisher at igc.org
Fri Nov 15 09:58:01 PST 2002


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>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list