Is George Allen an advocate for oil industry nationalization?

By: tokatakiya
Published On: 9/18/2006 11:13:00 AM

This struck me in the debate yesterday: does George Allen think Iraq should nationalize it's oil industry?
SEN. ALLEN: The other aspect of this that I've, I've asked Maliki, I've said it to Jafari and all the ministers, is the key for that country, for their economy is oil.  And I think that their oil ought to be a national asset, and they ought to create something like the Alaska Permanent Fund where everybody in Iraq, regardless of where they live, regardless of their ethnicity, has a share in that oil. They'll care about building up the oil capacity, upgrading it-and they'’ll certainly care about anybody who'’s blowing up the pipelines, because that would be money out of their pockets. Alaska they get a dividend. Every citizen ought to get a dividend in Iraq as well.

I think this has been glossed over because no one that I've seen has mentioned it. The good conservative George Allen seemingly is calling for nationalization of Iraq's oil industry coupled with payouts to mollify the citizenry.

I doubt his "Big Oil" donators would approve.

Apparently, socialism is a "Jeffersonian" ideal now as well. Perhaps he could get a better idea on how to implement this from an expert in this field, Hugo Chavez.

Comments



At Fairfax COC, Allen said he wants VA offshore drilling (RayH - 9/18/2006 5:23:44 PM)

Would he be in favor of allowing us to have a dividend too? Oh, wait-- he said he wants some proceeds of the VA offshore drilling to pay for roads. Is that a kind of creeping socialism? Where does this guy stand?

I note that yesterday's WaPo article slammed the Bush administration for appointing inept people to head programs in Iraq, favoring loyalty over expertise. Allen's proposal regarding nationalization of the Iraqi oil industry is an interesting theory, but who would they put in charge of getting it off the ground, and how would they ensure that it works without corruption?

The finance system in Iraq is so broken now that Iraqi army and police regularly go AWOL in order to deliver cash to their families after pay day. How would they administer payment of a dividend to every citizen in a place like that?