That American Capitalism is better than Russian or Saudi Communism? The problem with that argument is that the Russians aren't Communist any more, and the Saudis never were.

But even if they were, would that make any difference? Businessmen struggle to crush their competitors because it means more profits for them. And this holds true for Communist businessmen as well as Capitalist ones. However this oil war finally works out, it will have to do with geological and market conditions; economic, political and perhaps even military realities will dictate the outcome, not ideological ones.

What we should be worrying about is not the politics of the players, but who gets to benefit and lose from their actions. If you want to adopt a purely market perspective, and ignore who actually benefits from economic policy, you will see that it isn't abstract market rules which dictate events, it is the individual interests of the players.

The Saudi oil executives were educated in Ivy League American business schools. They don't care what Adam Smith or Karl Marx wrote. They are looking out for their own careers. Their executives are just like ours: they'll sell out their countries just like ours will if it means they turn a profit.

Remember. This oil does not belong to them, or the companies they work for, or the governments that control it.
The oil belongs to us. The rest of those guys are just middlemen. Parasites. Vampires.

Look up the Great Russian Wheat Deal. We got our clocks cleaned by a bunch of Communists, because our farmers and their lobbies in Washington were greedy. I know, you'll just probably respond "But that was just Crony Capitalism".

But Rob, that's the only kind there is.