We should definitely nationalize petrochemical countries. The taxpayers should get the benefits of natural resources' scarcity rents. On top of that, we should raise the price of oil dramatically ($10 per gallon of regular gas?) to discourage its use, balanced with refundable income-tax credits for the poor. The price should then be ratcheted upward over time, to discourage its use.
The key problem is that most of the oil that these companies own is outside the country. They could spin off their foreign operations. So instead, large taxes should be imposed on petrochemicals (along with tax credits for the poor). Of course, we don't need a Marxist to do that. The social democrats and other smart people in W. Europe have done that. The problem here is that instituting this kind of enlightened policy requires having a much more leftward tilt in the balance of political power than currently prevails. The main benefit of nationalizing the petrochemical companies is breaking their political power. Perhaps having the government control the refineries is enough. That works if the people control the government. This is not very coherent, but I hope it helps. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 1. Should a president nationalize petrochemical and other major energy > companies? -- Jim Devine / "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama." -- JL. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
