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To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (2862)	11/12/2002 1:22:34 AM
From: bela_ghoulashi	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 6901

I dunno...bombing Microsoft isn't a totally bad idea.

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (2862)	11/12/2002 3:29:12 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6901

Gidday Lazy. I thought it made sense. Okay, literally, the USA isn't a member of OPEC. But as Shah Pahlavi realized, when he was concerned about what the USA reaction would be to a price rise and after his advisers explained that the USA was okay with it, certain USA interests benefit from high oil prices, not low prices, and those interests are politically very important. The Iranians were worried that the USA would go nuts at higher prices. Not so. Sure, "the USA" doesn't want them TOO high. Not to hot, not too cold. Just right. That's what the USA wants. Rule number one is to ask "Who benefits?" The answer to that question always explains a lot of positions that people take over many situations. OPEC is an American institution in that it only continues with the tacit approval of the USA. I'm sure you are aware that Saudi Arabia is the swing producer, the ring leader, the dominant member, the one with buddies at the highest levels of the USA executive and military branch of government. King George II and King George I have got mates in Saudi Arabia. Carlyle the company fits in there somehow: redherring.com France has many nuclear reactors. If oil is cheap, the nuclear reactors are unprofitable. The price of electricity is a function of oil prices. The USA has important oil interests [North Slope and others] with high production costs. If OPEC oil is cheap, those high-cost USA producers get really unhappy and lose a lot of money. Canada has huge oil resources and exports heaps. They don't want OPEC oil to be cheap. Neither does Australia, which exports mountains of coal, which has a price dependent on oil prices. If oil's too cheap, power stations will burn oil, not coal. Oz exports uranium and has some high cost oil fields. It all makes sense if you think about who benefits from high-cost crude oil. Mqurice