Liberalguy

A Word from the Wise (?) By Monica Crowley (bio)

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia announced that the kingdom would pump more oil within weeks to try to get the world price of crude down. He made the commitment to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. With Larry from Riyadh and Moe from the UN, the only one missing from this tete-a-tete was Curly. Next month, the Saudis say they will begin pumping an extra half-million barrels daily, bringing total Saudi output to 9.7 million barrels a day, their highest level ever. Larry from Riyadh told Mo from the UN that the high prices weren’t their fault, but the fault of speculators (also known as investors) who were artificially driving up prices, leading to gas and food shocks around the world. The Saudis are players. Corrupt up to their eyeballs, talking out of both sides of their mouths on terror, extorting the world with their gangsta cartel, ruling their kingdom like it’s 672 A.D. These are not nice people. But even not-nice people can have a point. The Saudis admonished the West for its sky-high taxes on gas. Western Europe, the United States: we’re all guilty of levying stupendous taxes on gas and oil, and the Saudis are appealing to our governments to CUT IT OUT. Who knew the sheikhs were supply-side tax-cutters? King Abdullah could party up a storm with Jack Kemp. It might take the King of an oppressive Islamic state to wake up the West on its oppressive tax regime. Then again, just as the Saudis are in love with their oil, Western governments are in love with their taxes.