You’ve heard of OPEC, that group of mostly Arab countries that more or less control the world’s oil supply; but have you heard of OGEC? Probably not, because it doesn’t exist. But it should, and here’s why…
On a global scale, what does the West fear the most? The West being North America and Western Europe. We fear OPEC. OPEC because in the past they have shown how quickly they can piss us off by controlling our oil supply. We don’t get all our oil from OPEC nations, but we get enough for them to make us sweat.
The middle eastern countries banded together initially to share ideas about their cash crop, oil; but over time OPEC became the entity used to flex their muscles. Here’s the thing, have you seen these countries? Its nothing but desert. Its sand, oil, and dirt. What do they have? Oil, that’s it. Everything else must be imported.
Lets look at the top 5 wheat producing nations: China, India, US, Russia, & France. Together they produce 50% of the world’s wheat. Now look at the top 5 wheat exporters: US, Australia, Canada, France, Argentina. Top 10 lists are available here. The website I linked to also speaks of Iraq and Iran’s growing demand for importing this wheat. Why then, have the top 10 wheat and grain producing nations not banded together? The Organization of Grain Exporting Nations, OGEC. The biggest consumers of oil are the biggest exporters of wheat. This just makes sense! We can get a fancy building in Austria right next to OPEC’s. Hell, lets put it in the US Embassy in Iraq, we’ve got plenty of space there.
Obviously the United States needs to be the catalyst. We are #3 in wheat production and #1 in its export. We aren’t even going to talk about our mad corn skills (yes we dominate that too). Not only can we use grain as leverage over our tan friends, we have another advantage. The US, Canada, and Russia are big oil producers too. While there would be economic setbacks for decades, the three of us could just plain cut off the middle east. No grain for you, and we use eachother for oil.
Remember the Cold War? It would never come to the cut-off scenario above I described, we would just sit by the red phones at the ready. Not for war, but an embargo. This would keep the middle east in line, and certainly quell any fears by misinformed politicians about Iran producing nuclear weapons to use against us.
We’re already moving towards energy independence, and our reliance on foreign oil will slowly dwindle. Until then, if the oil nations have a cartel, I think the grain nations should too.
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
