Except that lowering price of oil has never been to the benefit of an oil-producing country. Hence the existence of the OPEC cartel.
Why should anyone not a member of OPEC care if the cartel is unsuccessful in pushing the price above what a free market would produce?
It even says that in the line you quote: "could benefit the United States and other Western oil-consuming countries by reducing oil prices."
So American army invades Iraq, puts a friendly puppet in power, and starts milking the oil fields. Yeah, in the time of "Might makes right" and where there is economic benefit, who cares if this is a return to imperialist policies?
As another poster pointed out lower oil prices would benefit everyone who consumes oil not only Westerners regardless of how that sentence was structured. That means Malawi, China, India, Pakistan, too etc. not just the US.
Ironically, Houston, where I live, and the drilling industry, in which I work, happen to be an area which benefits very much from high oil prices. The number of jobs here, house prices, etc. all rise and fall over the course of time with the price of oil. |
