Re: Cheney's Halliburton to Control Iraqi Oil?

Andreas Pour wrote:

> What exactly is the argument?  That having control over so much wealth makes
> democracy impossible?  If that is the case, does control over a $1 trillion
> budget not also make democracy impossible?  So you admit that the US is not a
> democracy?  

We are very close to the line but have not crossed it.

> Or is there some magic line between $1 trillion and the value of
> Iraq's oil fields where suddenly democracy becomes impossible?
> 
No, there isn't any difference of kind, only a difference of degree.

<SNIP>

> As to the best way to do it, would be to bid out contracts to *operate*, not
> *own*, the oil-fields.  That way the surplus spread (Market_Value -
> Extraction_Costs - Transportation_Costs) goes to the government, 

That is what I thought that the US was doing.

> and the
> government needs not charge taxes, and, in fact, can provide a number of social
> services, such as free education, a free highway system, free healthcare, and
> other things which might actually benefit the Iraqis.  

Unfortunately, this large amount of socialism does make democracy 
difficult.

And this will still be the case if they privatize the oil fields since 
there would most certainly be a large royalty or severance tax on the 
oil pumped.

--
JRT


Kde-cafe mailing list - [email protected]
http://ofb.biz/lists/listinfo.cgi/kde-cafe

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this mailinglist are the personal
opinions of the author and do not represent OfB.biz: Open for Business, KDE or the author's employer.