OPEC - "THEY IS US!"
by Ralph Epperson
Author of The Unseen Hand
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CONSPIRATORIAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Newspaper headlines scream:
OPEC REDUCES PRODUCTION, OIL PRICES RISE!
And we, the American people, flail our arms in contempt as we
our gasoline prices increase! Those blasted "oil producing
countries" have done it to us again! (OPEC stands for
"The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.")
And our American oil producing companies seem powerless to
do anything about the increase in price! Why isn't something
done to get us gasoline at a reduced price? Why are we so
dependent on OPEC for our oil needs?
But we do not know who the "they" in the OPEC nations are,
but all we know is that "they" are "foreign nations!" Because
our American oil companies would not do such a thing to their
fellow Americans!!
Because we have the "free enterprise system" in America
where competition forces down the high prices, and it doesn't
occur to us that OPEC might be the American (and European)
oil companies!!
But let me tell you ................. they are!
Because OPEC is not "the foreigners," it is "us!"
However, proving that statement is more difficult than making it,
because there is but a little information that I am aware of that
tells us just who these "foreigners" are. However, there are
adequate clues that OPEC is not owned by the "foreigners" at all.
But to understand OPEC, we must first understand a few simple
economic terms, such as NATURAL MONOPOLY, COERCIVE
MONOPOLY, and CARTEL
The industrialists of the "industrial revolution" soon learned that
exorbitant profits could not be made in the "FREE ENTERPRISE
SYSTEM," where competitors could enter the market place and
compete by selling the same product at a reduced price.
The "industrialists" soon learned the merits of the MONOPOLY,
a market place where they could continue to charge their exorbitant
prices and no one would compete. But in a "FREE ENTERPRISE
SYSTEM," another producer could enter the market place even if
they had a monopoly and once again, reduce the price.
A NATURAL MONOPOLY is defined as a market place where one
seller is allowed to be the only producer of a product, because no
one wishes to compete. But that threat of future competition
caused the MONOPOLIST concern: that competition could always
enter the market place at a future date and drive prices down.
The NATURAL MONOPOLIST soon discovered the joys of hiring
a government to protect his NATURAL MONOPOLY by closing the
door to its competition. (A basket full of money given to the right
person at the right time has strange effects on politicians!) This
NATURAL MONOPOLY became a COERCIVE MONOPOLY
because the hired government closed the market place by making
it illegal to compete. So the MONOPOLIST turned to government and
together they creates what is called a COERCIVE MONOPOLY.
This exists when govern-ment and the MONOPOLIST combine to
restrict the access of their competitors to the market place.
But how does THE COERCIVE MONOPOLIST control the world
market place when there is another COERCIVE MONOPOLIST
in another nation with its government supporting its COERCIVE
MONOPOLY?
The answer is obvious: THE MONOPOLIST signs an agreement
with the competing COERCIVE MONOPOLY and that resulting
agreement is called a CARTEL!
OPEC is a "CARTEL" (defined as "a few sellers in a market place,
combining to set the price of a good sold.")
This connection between the monopolists and government was
correctly discerned by Frederick Clemson Howe, Ph.D., an
economist, lawyer, and a special assistant to Henry Wallace,
the Secretary of Agriculture and later a Vice-President to
Franklin Roosevelt. He wrote:
"These are the rules of big business: Get a monopoly.
Let society work for you, and remember that the best business
is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy, or tax
xemption
is worth more than a Kimberly or Comstock Lode, since it does not
require any labor either mental or physical, for its exploitation."
John D. Rockefeller, the American oil magnate, one who correctly
learned the lesson about MONOPOLIES as well, expressed his
opinion that "Competition is a sin."
Another who wrote of this connection was Dr. Antony Sutton, who
wrote in his book WALL STREET AND FDR: (meaning Franklin D.
Roosevelt)
"Old John Rockefeller and his 19th century fellow capitalists
were convinced of an absolute truth: that no great monetary
wealth could be accumulated under the impartial rules of competitive
laissez-faire [the free-enterprise system] society.
The only sure road to the acquisition of massive wealth
was mo-nopoly: Drive out your competitors, reduce competition,
eliminate laissez-faire [the free enterprise system] and above
all get state protection for your industry through compliant
politicians and government regulation.
The last avenue yields a huge [COERCIVE] monopoly
and a legal monopoly always leads to wealth."
And in his book, WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK
REVOLUTION, Dr. Sutton further amplified his point:
"The financiers ... could by government control ... more
easily avoid the rigors of competition.
Through political influence they could manipulate the police
power of the state to achieve what they had been unable, or what
was too costly, to achieve under the private enterprise system."
In other words, the police power of the state was a means of
maintaining a private COERCIVE MONOPOLY.
As I said before, the best known cartel in the world is OPEC.
This cartel is thought to be foreign, primarily Arabian, in
ownership. However, there is ample reason to believe that
the principle ownership of OPEC is not primarily Arabian but
international, primarily American.
Dr. Carroll Quigley, the mentor of President Bill Clinton at
Georgetown University, (Clinton praised Quigley in 1992 on
national television as being one of the two men who got him into
politics) in his massive 1300 page book entitled TRAGEDY AND
HOPE, discussed an oil cartel formed in 1928:
"This world cartel had developed from a tripartite agreement
signed on September 17, 1920 by Royal Dutch Shell,
Anglo-Iranian, and Standard Oil.
These agreed to manage oil prices on the world market by
charging an agreed fixed price plus freight costs, and to store
surplus oil which might weaken the fixed price level.
By 1949 the cartel had as members the seven greatest oil
com-panies in the world: Anglo-Iranian, Socony-Vacuum, Royal
Dutch Shell, Gulf, Esso, Texaco, and Calso.
Excluding the United States domestic market, the Soviet
Union and Mexico, it controlled 92% of the world's reserves
of oil . . . ."
It might help if I try and identify each of these 7 oil companies:
Anglo-Iranian: An Iranian company in partnership
with
several American and European oil
companies
Socony-Vacuum: Standard Oil Company of New York
and
Vacuum (an English company)
Royal Dutch Shell: Owned in the main by the Royal Family of
Holland
Gulf: Not certain, but I believe this is an
merican
owned oil company
ESSO: Standard Oil of England
Texaco: A Rockefeller oil company
Calso: Standard Oil of California
(Not much Arabian ownership in that list!!)
James P. Warburg, who should know, further discussed the
cartel in his book entitled THE WEST IN CRISIS. Apparently
the cartel had grown to include an additional member:
"Eight giant oil companies - five of them American -
control the non-Communist world's supply of oil, maintaining
administered prices which. . . yield exorbitant profits.
The oil companies extract oil from the Middle East, which
contains 90% of the known reserves of the non-communist
world, at a cost of 20 to 30 cents a barrel and sell it at a collusive
price, varying over a period of recent years from $1.75 to $2.16
per barrel, F.O.B., the Persian Gulf.
The resulting profit has, as a rule, been split on a fifty-fifty
basis with the government of the country in which the oil is
produced."
See how noble these oil companies are? They share the profits
"50 - 50" with the country they take the oil out of!
Now for the fun part: I will use the figures shown above to show
you just why there is money to be made in the CARTEL
BUSINESS! Using Mr. Warburg's figures, it is easy to
extrapolate price increases to today's oil market prices.
Years Cost Price Profit % of
rofit
1950 $ .30 $ 2.16 $ 1.86 620
1979 ** $3.25 $20.00 $16.75 515
** Presuming a lO% per year increase in costs and using
the OPEC price of $20.00 in 1979, the profit of $16.75 is
approximately the same as that pointed out in Warburg's book.
(Gee, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to determine that a 620%
profit on your investment is NOT TOO SHABBY!)
(I must admit that these figures come from my 1985 book
THE UNSEEN HAND and I have not updated them.)
In other words, the OPEC countries are increasing oil prices
today (in 1979) in order to maintain their profit percentages of
30 years ago.
It is interesting to note that both Dr. Quigley and Mr. Warburg
wrote about the years 1949 and 1950. OPEC was formed in
1951, right after both authors pointed out that the Arabian oil
reserves were owned by non-Arabian oil companies.
It is doubtful that these non-Arabian oil companies gave up the
ability to make a 620 percent profit to the OPEC nations when
OPEC was formed. So, I think it is fair to conclude that they still
own the oil from "the middle east."
In summary, then, these agreements that artificially set prices,
(the cartels and their cousin, the monopolies) lead to the
accumulation of large quantities of amassed wealth through
exorbitant profits!
These marketplace aberrations exist solely because the
monopolists have formed a partnership with the government,
and the result is higher prices for the consumer.
Think about this as you pay the higher price for your gallon
of gasoline!!!!!!!
"They" is "us!"
(If you want to read THE UNSEEN HAND by Ralph Epperson,
call him at (520) 886-4380 or contact him @t
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
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