Is Invading Venezuela a Good Way Out of an Oil Crisis? 24 comments
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It had to happen, didn't it? With the combination of the sharp rise in oil prices combined with the ratcheting up of anti-Chavez rhetoric seen in the past few weeks (for example the FARC laptop baloney that is now unravelling), it was only a matter of time before the business world got in on the act.
It has fallen to Martin Hutchinson to float the idea. In this article at Prudent Bear dot com, he goes through the current problems with oil and after a few numerical twists and turns get to the point:
.....The obvious place to invade is Venezuela. Since the 1.8 trillion barrels of Venezuelan oil deposits consist largely of the Orinoco tar sands, a Venezuelan oil-related invasion would impose an additional requirement: to keep the environmentalists away, in order that reserves could be exploited with maximum efficiency.........
And just to make sure the message is nicely implanted in the memory Hutchinson finishes off with this:
Hutchison, former international merchant banker, advisor to the US Treasury Department and now regular columnist, is also the author of the book Great Conservatives. As Michael Shedlock points out on his excellent website "Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis":...in summary, a sharp rise in US and world interest rates is the best way to solve the problem of spiraling energy and commodity prices, which will probably not solve itself. If that doesn’t work or is “politically impossible” it’s time to prepare the 82nd Airborne for jungle warfare in the Orinoco Basin...
Damn right, Mish, Damn right. Dangerous stuff like this needs to be confronted immediately, else it might fester in the minds of those looking for an easy target to blame for the price of gasoline.....The ideas espoused by Hutchinson are as dangerous as ideas can get. And when the world sees such proposals it's no wonder many countries despise us. True conservatives do not go starting wars because they do not like the price of a commodity. True conservatives do not believe in theft. But the most absurd thing is that Hutchinson believes "The principal influence behind the huge rise in oil prices has been speculation" yet his solution is to invade Venezuela. Since Venezuela is not the driving force behind said speculation, such a proposal is clearly deranged thinking. There is no other way of looking at it....
Remember your Economics 101:
INFLATION IS A MONETARY PHENOMENON.
And while you're at it, remember what two time congressional medal of honor winner General Smedley Butler wrote in 1935, cos it's as true today as it was back then:
"WAR IS A RACKET"
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This article has 24 comments:
I think our misguided efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq have mal-affected our bottom line and have contributed to the devaluing of the Dollar and directly increased the price of oil not to mention straining the tenuous ties we have to our oil-producing **allies**.
We would be better off investing in our future with aid to foreign countries than bullying them. Further, we should get off the ethanol kick, drop our alcohol tariffs and align ourselves with Brazil rather than pissing off South America as well. It might be a good idea to help Mexico locate and drill for more oil as their welfare economy is supported by Pemex and their oil output is expected to fall by 2010. Maybe we need to take a note from the Chinese playbook and work with other countries to guarantee our future needs.
Thx jegan ;-)
DRILL IN ALASKA!!! OIL PRICES WILL NOT DROP UNTIL AMERICA SPENDS IT'S OIL PROFITS ON DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. THE TIME IS NOW. Venezuela and Iran would be marginalized if we developed our own resources. The funding for terrorists would dry up and the Iraq war would end. The dollar will also rise in value and inflation will come back down. Food prices will stabilize before decreasing back to normal. Gasoline and diesel will decrease and become affordable again. Vote for me. My policies will be pro America. All of the worlds problems are caused by the stupid hate America policies of the liberal elitists. America is the greatest country on Earth with the cleanest environment. Greenhouse Gases are good. Greenhouse Gases are clean. Greenhouse Gases are Green. Beware of the environmental lies spread by foreign special interests.
1,000,000 deaths later and a happy Halliburton holiday thereafter the U.S. consumer will be indentured for life just to pay the price of gas, Invading Venezuela will not add a single drop to world supply...
Unless of course we are talking about taking it off the market and keeping it all... Then the chinese, japanese, europeans will take serious notice that the war the U.S. is waging is really against them.
happy trails.
With the US Treasury Department having such advisors one has to wonder about nothing that happened in the past.
Never forget that Venezeula and Iran are in cahoots to keep oil prices high. (www.world-check.com/ar...-/) You invade one and you have to invade the other. Perhaps it's cheaper that drilling, or keeping all those dangerous Greenies at bay?
Pretzel Logic I think.
And now it's polluted with this crap.
Taking potshots at the Democrats , you say?
They are MORONS.
No logical common sense to the crap they say.
We invaded Kuwait , but didn't take their oil.
We are NOT going to invade Venezuela ,
unless they start building nukes and threatening us -
And if we did , we wouldn't take their oil anyway.
Anyone notice the international bidding and contracting for the oil and gas in Iraq?
Japan , Russia , China - even Iran are making deals for Iranian resources.
How come "Mish" forgets to adress that?
Stupid childish morons.
maybe a better solution would be to develop a national enery policy and use our resources more wisely. there is no reason with all the technology we have, that we could make the us energy independent.
I few roadside bombs, and pipeline bombs is all it takes to put a monkey wrench in the gears of oil production.
The last place the U.S. successfully invaded was the Island of Granada. If invading something will make you feel better, please pick another small island with a tiny population.
Invading VZ is an interesting idea, but won't happen. The US policy toward Chavez should be to totally ignore him (he will have a hissy fit) unless he is acting against his neighbors, like Columbia.
Better to concentrate on oil alternatives and increasing mileage with hybrids.
I read yesterday about the 3 wheel aerodynamic $30K Aptera; 300 mpg for the hybrid; 120 miles on charge for the all electric. Look for more cars like this over next 5 years.
You don't see Japan, Korea, Germany, etc., complaining - do you ?
Our society has degenerated into an abyss like we have not had since the 1930's. If you read all the intelligent comments on SA and follow some links, you will get an education.
Let's leave the unimportant trivia to the posters on the Yahoo message boards, please.
the military industrial complex is alive and well.
Martin Hutchinson forgets that Bush did not invade Iraq to help ease oil prices.
He invaded Iraq simply to control the spigot.
Perhaps Hutchinson needs to arrange a meeting with James Baker. Baker can explain how the world really works.
For American oil companies, keeping Iraq's oil underground has proven to be quite lucrative. Why mess with record profits by having Iraq break OPEC?
When need be, OPEC will raise production. And Iraq will magically fall into line.
All this is much ado about nothing.