Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Oil Price Fixing

While I doubt that anything will come of it, the Senate is going to allow the US to sue OPEK for price fixing. Anyone who knows much about economics also knows that lost amid all of the tumult of high gas prices, is the fact that these prices are essentially fixed by those on top. The countries may get the oil out of the ground for $5 a barrel, but their monopolistic setup allows them to sell it for $55 a barrel, whether that is what it is worth or not. The problem is, they decide the price, not the market. Price manipulation is bad for economies and whenever it is done it is with disasterous results: See the Great Depression. This bit sums it up nicely:
"If OPEC were a group of international private companies rather than foreign governments, their action would be nothing more than an illegal price-fixing scheme," Kohl said.

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