But if total Iraqi income from oil come out to $20 billion a year or so, and the war costs $200 billion or so, and occupation costs $20-40 billion a year, how do you ever end up paying for it with a "tax per barrel"? Voodoo economics?
To broaden the topic a bit, here's a vaguely related story from a few weeks back.
Forced Transparency nytimes.com
By BLAINE HARDEN
In poor countries blessed with oil, revenue from oil has a way of making most people poorer. The pattern is so pervasive and has been going on for so long that it has a catchy slogan: the paradox of plenty.
No place has been more paradoxical for more years than Angola. It is potentially the richest country in Africa, with huge reserves of offshore oil and a population of just 12 million. Oil money, though, has bought decades of war, while giving Angolans a terrible standard of living. Although the war ended this spring, it's still not clear where the money is going (or even how much there is). In the past five years, $4 billion has vanished; meanwhile, the world spends about $200 million a year to feed poor Angolans. To break this cycle, in Angola and elsewhere, a simple idea has emerged this year. It also has a catchy slogan: Publish What You Pay.
The World Bank backs the idea, as does George Soros, the financier and human rights crusader, as do 70 private aid agencies around the world. The Publish What You Pay coalition prods major companies to declare how much money they give governments in order to extract oil and minerals. If citizens know how much money comes in, they can, at the very least, figure out how much is stolen. Forcing transparency on corrupt governments would increase pressure on leaders to spend more on schools, hospitals and roads -- and might motivate citizens to toss out known thieves.
Tony Blair, the British prime minister, gave the idea a boost this fall by calling on all companies involved in oil and mineral extraction to voluntarily announce how much they pay. But the Publish What You Pay coalition wants more. They want regulators of the world's richest stock markets, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, to compel oil companies to declare net annual payments to countries like Angola. None currently do.
Most oil-producing states hate this idea. And oil companies fear losing billion-dollar concessions to competitors that will keep their mouths shut. This is not an irrational fear. When BP announced last year that it would publish its payments to Angola, the government threatened to cut the company off unless it ''scrupulously respects'' confidentiality laws.
In all this, the Bush administration has been noticeable for not taking a leadership role. Forty percent of Angola's oil is exported to the United States. |
