Charles, my boy...er older man
Charles is the epitome of wisdom. most of the time. this is not one of those times.

I don't know why some people (andrew coyne is one: once said canada should have a flat 28% tax on all goods) who are otherwise kinda bright in other fields try their hands at economics in such an off the wall manner. Can you imagine? a government tax on all imports of oil? wow. stabilize the price at $35? mmm...well, i wonder where that price would stay?

Opec would instantly boost the price up by cutting off supply. There would be no tax to collect, just a super high, garaunteed price for the manufacturers of oil: the saudis....which are the people he wants to lessen the dependence of oil on...here is the money shot:

Oil is currently selling at about $30 a barrel. Slap, say, a $5 (or $10 -- the bazaar is open) tax on every imported barrel. And most important, keep the new price -- let's say $35 -- as a floor. The world market price is likely to fall as Iraqi oil comes online, as Venezuela stabilizes and as Russian and Caspian producers ramp up production.

oh yes! the bazaar is open for yet another tax that would be applied, open (supposedly by charles' thinking) massive revenue for the gov. which will never, ever go away. The price of gas is just an orgy of government tax. what the hell is he thinking? 5, 10, 20 dollars! who cares! go to town, oppressors!....

and what if, say the price went over $35?

as keanu would say: what do you do? What...would you do?

is the US able to manipulate prices? no, but OPEC is. And manipulate they would. with at least a garaunteed price at 35, there would be no reason to control increase their own production at anything less than that price....because they would sell the same amount of oil to the US! because the demand is the same at 35 no matter what, because if they produce more or less, the US gov will fix the price at 35! The whole thing would be aimed at getting OPEC to gauge the US public at 35 w/ nothing going to the gov in taxes and the US paying an ever larger amount of income on oil.

way to start another economic crisis! wow*10. really, charles. let's be real. even paul krugman wouldn't write this crap.