It was a slow day at the office today, our students were at the two-periods-a-week manditory Islam class. We were bored.
So the question came up, what would have been the likely effect of paying the Saudi people (way back when) or the Iraqi people (starting right now) for the oil pumped from their country.
Assume we had some way to ensure only “real” residents (and their desendants) could get monthly checks.
It sounds like a Libertarian ideal, but I suppose it would cause some serious economic problems.
Any thoughts?
Well, the State of Alaska runs a similar program, with residents getting a cut of the profit made from drilling the oil on government owned land. (And other mineral resources, IIRC.) The rest of the money goes to the State to fund programs, and to the companies which spent the time and effort pumping it out of the ground. Seems to work okay up there.
It done in Alaska, though that’s only the state’s “excess”.
Do you mean giving it all to the people and then having the government tax them to get funds for the government? That is what effectivly happens now. The government just sets the “tax” at 100% on oil “income” and cuts out out the distribution and collection costs by taking the money directly.
My Saudi co-workers thought it would have been a great idea. I supposed it owuld have promoted emmigration and laziness.