Quote:
Originally Posted by Mpower
Uh lol, wow.  I want to strongly state my opposition to that thought but heck, I don't even know where to begin.  Well, have a good night nonetheless  |
I'm not promoting actually doing it!
I'm just saying that the most oil-rich part of the world is monopolizing petrol by limiting production and fixing prices much like the old US monopolies did. It creates incredible revenue for mediocre, inconsistent, or low supply. The only way to force change is for a government to step in. The only reason the US government stopped monopolies in America was the strength of the democracy here. Democracies inherently protect worker rights whereas dictatorships and monarchies do not. OPEC countries all have some sort of elitist system of government that does not protect civil liberties or competition in any way; therefore, monopolies persist without any governmental reason to stop them. In fact, authoritarian regimes tend to benefit from such a system of monopolies because it reinforces their own power with consistent tax income. In the end, they get the same consistent tax money each year which solidifies their power and authority. As a result, these regimes can stay in power indefinitely. With a resource as well-valued as oil, there is no domestic incentive in oil-producing nation-states to regulate businesses that produce oil because any regulation would require prosecution of the businesses, some of which are owned by the government! Why would the government sue itself?
It wouldn't. Since no internal factors exist, save civil strife, to bring down these monopolies and create competition, only external factors in the market or political environment can end the monopolies. This can occur in two ways. The first is to bring down the regime that supports the monopolies, thus revising the whole political and economic system in these authoritarian regimes. The second is to use international pressure to encourage democracy or at least a free market in these places. Unfortunately, international pressure takes an eternity to make a dent on countries whose products are a dependency for the rest of the world. There is no way other than force to change the market forces in OPEC, so that is why I recommended invasion as a means of satisfying our goals of more oil.
