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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (65745)	1/13/2003 5:17:44 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 281500

<the part of the US economy that consumes oil is lots bigger than the part that produces oil. Gas prices have already started to rise here because of Venezuala. > True enough. But the implication that it's therefore more expedient to benefit consumers is false. The old problem of democracy is diffuse costs but concentrated benefits. So the diffuse cost to consumers of expensive imported oil is less important to oil-based politicians than the concentrated benefits to their oil industry buddies. All sorts of crazy things happen in democracies because most people couldn't care less, and don't have a clue, but the few special interest voters do care very much and will vote recalcitrant politicians into obscurity. Mqurice