Lastdingo,

We get our oil from numerous countries such as Nigeria (another stable garden spot), S. America, Mexico, Canada, the Middle East, etc. You can't compare the impact on the U.S. by determining which countries the U.S. buys it oil from today, because all countries buy from the global market. For example, if Saudi provided 30 bbl/day, Nigeria 10, Canada 15, Iraq 15, Mexico 10, Venezula 20, and terrorists reduced Saudi output by 50% (not that hard), that would equate to a 15% global decrease in oil production. I pulled these numbers out of you know where, so I think the real impact would be much greater than 20%, which is very significant. Most oil production countries listed cannot increase production to make up for the short fall. Many blame Saudi now for not producing more oil to lower the price (supply and demand), but several experts think it is physically impossible for Saudi to produce more. Regardless less output, less supply, greater demand, then greater prices. Oil prices impact every aspect of the economy to include foo production and distribution. The impact on emerging economies would be devastating. The loss of those markets for U.S. products due to inflation would hurt several U.S. businesses, and the nightmare scenario continues. This won't happen overnight, it can take up to 18 months for the 2d order effects to be realized. Our experts in the government realize this and are now taking aggressive measures to find alternative fuel sources such as nuclear, solar, etc. (bio fuels will prove to be a flop). Yet it takes 10 years to build a nuclear power plant. Right now we're the hostage.

The fact is that our global economy consists of several rapidly developing nations (not just China and India), and their demand for oil is increasing. The oil production system has little excess production capacity, so disruptions are serious economic events. Some disruptions are psychological, for instance if extremists take over Saudi, then oil prices will spike until the market determines if the extremists will still do business as normal. If they do then prices will settle back down, but the bottom line is the vast majority of the global oil supply comes from the Middle East and that is an unescapable strategic national interest whether we like it or not, and it means until we have another viable form of energy we'll have to continue to make deals with the devil.