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

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (175604)	11/23/2005 7:06:56 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Leaving development in "public hands"?? Come on now... Isn't that like saying the bank is screwing me because I choose to hire people to build my home rather than my developing the skills and materials necessary to build it myself. Or telling the people of Alaska that they've been exploited because ARCO built the pipeline for them, rather than waiting for Alaskans to develop the technology and financing to build it themselves. Or telling Americans of the 19th century that permitting foreigner to invest and finance our railroad system (intercontinental railway) was exploitation (while, as I recall, many foreign investors lost serious money as a result of bankruptcies and embezzlement). The revenue the derive from expedited development of their oil fields (and certainly under such business risk on the part of the foreign investors) is FAR better than risking the possibility that the LACK OF REVENUE exacerbates the current social turmoil.. Economics, by itself, is like statistics.. Easily twisted to suit one particular political point of view. (even mine)... But I believe logic dictates that Iraq needs the money now to derive. Iraq has over 200 Billion barrels of reserves. Multiply that by the current price and we're talking SERIOUS wealth that the young people need RIGHT NOW in order to create economic opportunity for them. Btw, the kind of investment you're talking about (developing their own technology) is going to take decades and someone has to invest money to develop it. So when you read your economic diatribes, ask them about "opportunity cost". But thanks for the article. Hawk