A DISPATCH FROM BIZARRO WORLD….File this under “stuff so weird I don’t even know how to react.” It’s from Lester Thurow writing in the LA Times today:
There is a solution to the rising cost of oil, but it is a painful one. Let’s say there is a lot of $20-a-barrel oil in the world — deep-sea oil, Canadian tar sands. But who would look for $20-a-barrel oil if someone else (Saudi Arabia) has lots of $5-a-barrel oil? The answer is: no one.
Basically, American taxpayers have to guarantee potential producers that the price in the future will not fall below $20 a barrel and that they will not lose their investments.
This is easy to do. The U.S. needs to guarantee that it will buy all of its oil at $20 a barrel before buying anything from OPEC. This forces the price of oil down to $20 a barrel, but it eliminates the possibility that it will ever go back to $5 a barrel.
….We need to do something! Take painful actions! Gridlock is the worst of all worlds.
Assume a can opener, apply a plainly loopy economic argument, and our problem is solved! Hooray! Thurow must be auditioning for a role in John McCain’s campaign.
