House Votes to Sue OPEC
Suing foreigners gets you no political enemies. Suing Arab foreigners who pump high-priced oil out of the ground that becomes high-priced gasoline will get you applause. The House of Representatives passed a bill giving the government the power to sue OPEC:
[Rep. John] Conyers accused the OPEC engaging in a “price fixing conspiracy” that has “unfairly driven up the price” of crude oil and, in turn gasoline.
His measure would change antitrust laws so that the Justice Department can sue OPEC member countries for price-fixing, and would remove the immunity given a sovereign state against such lawsuits.
Conyers’ use of the word “conspiracy” misses the mark because the whole point of forming a cartel is to fix prices. There’s no conspiracy since OPEC is out in the open about limiting production to support prices.
The Russian foreign ministry declared the bill a violation of international law. That’s funny since President Bush’s Democratic Congressional critics complain he’s flaunted international law.
This bill is simply symbolism over substance. Even if the bill passed and the Bush administration went after OPEC countries in court enforcing any ruling against an OPEC would boomerang on the U.S. causing even higher gas prices. Such grand thinking escaped 345 Congressmen because this bill gives them an example of doing something about high gas prices even if it ignores the reality of the U.S. gas market.
“House Passes Bill to Sue OPEC, Lower Gas Prices”
UPDATE: Commenter Clarendon points out every single member of the Wisconsin delegation voted for this piece of junk. That includes conservatives James Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan. They have some explaining to do.
What else did you expect from a mindset that states that the “proper” way to lower prices on a commodity is to regulate the domestic production of said commodity to death and then increase government’s take from the sale of said commodity?