| Ever wonder how much your heating bill goes up each time Joe Lieberman threatens an attack on Iran? Or what happens to gas prices when Chris Shays greenlights a Turkish attack on the Kurds?
Since January of this year, crude oil prices have jumped 40%, and they have more than quadrupled since 2002. While oil producers like Russia, Venezuela, and Middle East countries experience enormous windfall profits, we consumers pay more for heating oil and gasoline, as do American businesses.
Call it the "fear tax."
The Turkish government has sought parliamentary authority to launch attacks against Kurdish militants, who have long sought their own independent homeland. ...But it is fears that the dispute may escalate and threaten oil output in the wider region - Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia between them account for 20% of global supplies - which have fanned the price rises.
[..]
The situation in northern Iraq is just one of a number of geopolitical factors which are causing uncertainty in the market and helping to push prices up.
Iran's push to acquire nuclear power and, many believe, nuclear weapons has sparked concerns it could use its own oil supplies as a bargaining chip in any future showdown.
Barely-veiled threats from the US, suggesting that military action remains a live option, have further accentuated fears.
Many factors account for price increases, including the Iraq War itself, violence in Nigeria, rising energy demands, and a devalued dollar. But as the Washington Post reports, the Iran War risk premium alone may be as high $15 a barrel.
Considering that tension in the Middle East makes oil-producing countries like Russia and Venezuela stronger while sucking money from the American economy (excluding the U.S. oil and arms industries), you would think that our political leaders would try to ease those tensions. But not Lieberman, Shays and the Bush Administration.
Instead of taking measures to end the war and stablize the Middle East, Lieberman, Shays and Bush do the opposite, by voting against, or vetoing, withdrawal timelines and advocating wider-scale attacks. Even worse, these men continue feeding the tensions and funding the war with U.S. tax dollars and American lives.
This amount of stupidity is hard to express in words. But Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess champion, does a nice job of it, below the fold... |
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