tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post1729193950433596760..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: How the U.S. could fight OPEC and win (and why it won't)Kurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-17644968004727530822014-12-08T19:03:18.549-05:002014-12-08T19:03:18.549-05:00Yes, this is the obvious smart play for America an...Yes, this is the obvious smart play for America and Canada to make. Place a tariff on all foreign oil, and allow the newly robust North American oil industry to flourish.<br /><br />I thought of this idea, too, recently, thinking about the problem. I am interested in working in the oil fields, and have been working to prepare for this. And, as I saw the oil price collapsing, I thought a tariff on foreign oil would solve the problem.<br /><br />This is particularly apropos, if it is true that OPEC is deliberately trying to smash down North American production by maintaining over supply of oil. <br /><br />Why should America and Canada have their hands roped behind their backs while foreign entities play us for fools?<br /><br /> A tariff is easy, taxes no North Americans, and allows the robustness of the new energy development to continue to flourish. Keep in mind that energy independence creates many other benefits for the nations of Canada and the USA, too.<br /><br />Particularly, it offers strong reason to bring back manufacturing to North America. <br /><br />I am partial to the notion that North America should strive to be self reliant in virtually all things. We are such a large entity that there really should be no sound reason to allow key elements of our economy to be reliant on foreign sources of production. This is very dangerous. The world is full of dire enemies and allowing our sources of key economic production to be located so far away makes us very vulnerable. To allow cheap labor to be a trump card, we have given the upper hand to China which has no good intentions for us. They play the long game and look to themselves as being the power center of the future. We are fools for allowing them to build themselves up rapidly by hollowing out our manufacturing base through their cheap labor. Free trade with low wage countries is simply disguise to destroy our home grown industries, workers and knowledge base of expertise.<br /><br />Energy is a key underlying resource to the modern economy, and North America is blessed with energy abundance. A tariff on foreign oil would be a very simple, logical response to OPEC deliberately (or even not deliberately) planning to knock down our new success with sale oil. America and Canada should simply not allow such a n OPEC plan to succeed. All that is needed is a simple tariff.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07505653486703350426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-45598181458587274562014-12-08T16:23:55.952-05:002014-12-08T16:23:55.952-05:00Or, the US could start buying crude to refill and ...Or, the US could start buying crude to refill and expand the Strategic Oil Reseserve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-11729213964007882852014-12-08T01:51:17.937-05:002014-12-08T01:51:17.937-05:00The suggestion that KSA and USA cooperate on anyth...The suggestion that KSA and USA cooperate on anything these days is laughable. What's more likely is that KSA is waging economic warfare on USA, to wit- precipitating another financial crisis by undermining LTO production. LTO is about to peak. Peak production equals peak debt. And here comes KSA to pull the rug out. That's what you get for messing with ISIS, the Sunni proxi funded by KSA fighting the Shiite proxy funded by Iran. Russia has a lower marginal cost of production that USA, and Russians are hard people. They can handle more adversity than yanks. This price drop is asymmetrical warfare i.e. Economic warfare on USA by Sunni monarchs retaliating for USA messing with their dog ISIS. It's easy to see.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-77511612915616238252014-12-07T13:54:54.716-05:002014-12-07T13:54:54.716-05:00Sorry, it is not plausible that Saudi Arabia can m...Sorry, it is not plausible that Saudi Arabia can make oil production related decisions without tacit approval of the USG.<br /><br />The more likely reason is that the USG is willing to forgo shale production in order to squeeze Russia.The thinking is: It worked before to bring down the USSR, so it must work to bring down Putin. <br /><br />I do not have enough data to say that this strategy will work this time as well. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com