Re: [A-List] LRNA and energy

["bon moun" <sherrynstan@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Melvin.

I mean no disrespect for the LRNA.  In fact, I know Jerome Scott, Michelle
Tingling-Clemmons, and Walda Katz-Fishman, and have the greatest respect
for the work each of them does.  What I am saying is there are assertions
in this document that have not taken into account the rudiments of oil...
which is not just a commodity.  The US pays around $250 a barrel (by some
accounts) for the stuff, but $220 of that is disguised as "defense"
spending or taken as imperial tribute in the form of interest from the
global south.  It underwrites dollar hegemony, which in conjunction with US
military power, is the very basis of US imperialism.  An important Marxist
analysis of oil would begin with reviewing "rent," which describes, in
part, the relationship between the US and Saudi, for example.  But even
more basic, and this is where the left often substitutes anachronistic
interpretations for doing their homework, are the material realities of oil
that form the basis for the social relations of oil.  A good place to look
over an outline of this material reality is at
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/campbell/commons.htm

Stay well.

Stan