[SilasX]

This is fantasy. Slap a $20/ton or $50/ton carbon tax (highest non-crackpot estimate) on oil and people will still gladly pay it. The idea that oil use would severely diminished by such a cost internalization is pure wishful thinking.

[Nrsolis]

Carbon tax? I'm not talking about pollution here. I'm talking about geopolitics. If the cost of maintaining a fleet of ships in the Persian Gulf was fully factored into the cost of oil imported from the middle east, you think it's be close to the price we pay for it now?

[SilasX]

Wow, how much does Singapore's Persian Gulf fleet cost?

[Nrsolis]

Now you're showing your naiveté. Do you think for a second that if the US wasn't out there securing the supply that the price would be where it is?

SO MANY nations enjoy the umbrella of protection that is provided by the unipolar geopolitical environment we live in now.

[SilasX]

Yep, oil is totally non-fungible, and oil-rich nations wouldn't reap the immense profits of selling it on the massive global market without the US government specifically forcing them to.

[Nrsolis]

Did you miss the part where I mentioned that oil is also a STRATEGIC resource and not just a commodity?

Why else do you think we've committed our military to the purpose of securing supply?