On Dec 24, 12:17*pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Pete C." wrote in message

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JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
Kurt Ullman wrote:

In article ,
*"HeyBub" wrote:

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Would you agree that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign
oil?

Sure. But since oil is fungible, how can you reasonably do it?

* * *There are two different things going on here. One is the price of
oil the other who gets the money. We could reduce our dependence on
foreign by using our own energy sources. While that might or might not
make a big difference in prices at the pump,

it would more likely starve
some of the nasties in the ME .

Like the Iraq sanctions Starved Saddam? The nasties never get starved,
entirely because they are the nasties and are perfectly happy to steal
the food from the mouths of children.

That's different. We're talking about a business model that changes. If
the
business (Saudi Arabia) can't adapt to something like any other business,
then their business suffers. In the case of the Saudi royals, the result
would actually be horrible. They'd have to cut back on their lavish
spending
for yachts, villas in Europe, and large contributions to such things as
presidential libraries.

You might enjoy reading "Sleeping With The Devil", by Robert Baer.

They would actually just sell to China instead.

I keep hearing that. Do you think the Chinese come looking for oil, and the
Saudis tell them "Sorry - we have none for you. We're selling it to
America"? *Maybe that's the case, but I don't recall having read it
anywhere.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You keep hearing that, but does it ever sink in? There is a
worldwide market for oil and it's going to be there, with some ups and
downs for decades to come. If the USA developed alternate sources of
energy, it would take many years to reduce the amount of oil that we
import. At the same time, worldwide demand, from places like China,
will continue to grow.

So, the notion that by not importing oil you're somehow going to
really screw some middle eastern countries is silly. Yes, they may
wind up with less revenue, but in the grand scheme of things it
doesn't mean squat. They have a valuable resource that will have
worldwide demand for decades to come.

And what exactly is this supposed to do to middle eastern countries
anyway? All the terrorism in the world could be financed by maybe .
01% of the mideast oil revenue. So, unless you think you're going to
put them out of the oil business altogether, it ain't gonna work.