Yes, increasing oil production in the USA, causing a price rise to Americans who would not be allowed to buy from overseas, would cause a price reduction for Saudi Arabian and other oil suppliers. China would be very happy to take delivery of megatons of cheap oil if the USA doesn't want to buy it. China would enjoy those lower prices and be able to produce lots of lovely military equipment at lower prices than if the USA bought the cheap oil.
Saudi Arabia would have somewhat less money to spend on everything, including terrorists, but the money going to terrorists is trivially insignificant, so it's unlikely to make any difference to underpants bombers, shoe bombers, box cutter purchases, back pack and pressure cooker bombers and knife wielding or machete swinging head-hackers.
Meanwhile, Americans would be paying big heaps for locally produced oil.
But I agree that it's worth doing something. I would cut taxes on Cyberspace inside the USA and increase tax on imported crude oil and refined products by the same amount. That way, local businesses would get an economic boost and barbarian foreigners would not get an economic advantage. Free trade is all the rage these days, which would be nice, but since taxes are taken within countries, it might as well be taken at the border which is easier to control.
Mqurice |
