I believe Khelil is trying to fool us, and is apparently succeeding. First, it is clear from recent comments from Chavez, Saudio Arabia, Ahmadinejad, etc, that quite a few major oil producers are tickled pink with current prices and indeed, would CUT production if we started getting close to $100 again.
Therefore, whether Saudi Arabia can produce more or not (and I'm undecided on this question) is irrelevant--they have served notice that they won't do so.
As to cutting gas taxes in this country--that would be the biggest mistake we could make. We have to take our pain now--or take MUCH MORE pain later. If we had taken our pain 3 decades ago, we wouldn't be addicted to oil now. We use several times more oil per capita than Europe--we could eliminate imports entirely, and still be using much more oil.
We need a Manhattan-type project to get off this addiction, and do it quickly, and high oil prices is exactly (and unfortunately) what Americans need to motivate them to decrease demand.
OPEC Signals U.S. Rally [View article]
Therefore, whether Saudi Arabia can produce more or not (and I'm undecided on this question) is irrelevant--they have served notice that they won't do so.
As to cutting gas taxes in this country--that would be the biggest mistake we could make. We have to take our pain now--or take MUCH MORE pain later. If we had taken our pain 3 decades ago, we wouldn't be addicted to oil now. We use several times more oil per capita than Europe--we could eliminate imports entirely, and still be using much more oil.
We need a Manhattan-type project to get off this addiction, and do it quickly, and high oil prices is exactly (and unfortunately) what Americans need to motivate them to decrease demand.
Jack Yetiv