jetpack domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /mnt/stor08-wc1-ord1/694335/916773/www.tvhe.co.nz/web/content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131updraftplus domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /mnt/stor08-wc1-ord1/694335/916773/www.tvhe.co.nz/web/content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131avia_framework domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /mnt/stor08-wc1-ord1/694335/916773/www.tvhe.co.nz/web/content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131I absolutely agree with the rest of your comment about mercantilism.and the war on terror. I’m sure, if we wanted to, that we could spend a long time blogging about the War on Terror and its many unpalatable consequences.
]]>“For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists — who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, and raise the price of oil, and do great harm to our economy… It’s in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply … We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power… Let us build on the work we’ve done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. (Applause.) When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East. To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels…” [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070123-2.html]
But the Becker-Posner blog goes beyond just reducing the US’s economic vulnerability to hostile acts. They also advocate diversitification for the purpose of withholding revenue from Middle Eastern states: “National security also depends on how much revenue is received by oil and gas producing countries that may support terrorism, or are vulnerable to potential takeover by terrorist organizations.”
In other words, they’re dusting off the theory of mercantilism. Which was discredited once people realised that trade surpluses are not necessarily a souce of national economic strength, especially if they’re acheived through tariffs which raise the cost of crucial imports.
It would be nice if the authors identified which oil and gas producing countries, exporting to the US, may support terrorism or are vulnerable to takeover by “terrorist organisations”. Oooh you mean countries with muslims, right??
Of course the last oil producing to be invaded – also the country with the largest oil reserves in the Middle East – was Iraq. Which raises another risk: raise the price of oil through taxes, and you also increase the incentive for the US to invade 😛
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