(Posted by John.)
Please, Democrats, stop talking like this.
Championed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers,D-Mich., the bill would essentially make it illegal for foreign nationslike those in OPEC to operate a cartel.
Under federal law, foreign governments cannot be sued for failing to comply with federal antitrust laws.
"We don't have to stand by and watch OPEC dictate the price of ourgas," Conyers said. "We can do something about ... thisanti-competitive, anti-consumer behavior. And we are."
Uh, unless I totally missed that day in Political Science 101, I'm relatively certain that American sovereignty ends at the EEZ. And where the hell did we get the idea that it's America's gas? America produces less oil today than it did during the Eisenhower administration, half as much as it did during the Nixon administration, but somehow this is OPEC's fault? There's no evidence that OPEC is restricting supply, which makes this a demand-side issue. That's something that America could have addressed at any time over the last, uh, thirty years or so. Like Dick Cheney, America had other priorities.
And what if we get our wish, and Americans start suing the House of Saud? Would we lower the price of oil one jot? No, because there's always more buyers for oil. The only viable strategy is to lower demand. This freakshow of a bill needs to be killed, and soon.
