Bush to OPEC: “More oil, pretty please??”
So this is is what our oil addiction has come down to–the leader of the free world figuratively getting on his knees and begging for more oil from OPEC and the Saudis.
Said Bush:
“When [US] consumers have less purchasing power, it could cause the economy to slow down. I hope OPEC nations put more supply on the market. It would be helpful.”
How utterly embarrassing. It underscores American helplessness in its addiction to these foreign powers that are taking the humongous sums of money we’re sending to them for oil or debt to turn around and buy pieces of our own banks to save them from the mortgage crisis. Yep–we’re paying other countries to come over here and buy pieces of our own country so as to feed our debt and oil addictions.
It’s like the prince with land but no money who insists on partying by selling pieces of his land to continue his habit, until he eventually ends up being nothing but a renter on his own property.
The Saudis are playing their own little game too. Their response to Bush’s bleating was:
“Our interest is to keep oil supplies matching demand with minimum volatility in the oil market,” Oil Minister Ali Naimi told reporters. “We will raise production when the market justifies it. This is our policy.”
Sorry for the stupid question–but what more justification than historically high $100+/barrel prices is needed to convince the Saudis the market justifies it? Why are they leaving extreme wealth on the table when they could generate insane amounts of money by pumping more oil?
Hmmm…maybe it’s because they can’t.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: bush, oil, opec, petroleum, saudi-arabia
Perhaps it is time the U.S. Stops depending so much on foriegn oil. Maybe the higher prices will continue to press for investment in technologies to relieve the need for foriegn oil. I’d like to see how much the Department of Agriculture paid farmers last year not to produce crops. Let’s remove that dis-incentive and encourage the farmers to produce more crops while increasing the infrastructure for E85 ethanol based fuel. This will further reduce the need for oil while maintaining or reducing food costs. If done at the optimal rate, negligible if any impact may be felt by farmers. Every little bit will help.