There was a time when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controlled by Saudi Arabia and under the pragmatic thumb of Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, would have opened wide the oil spigots in the face of sky high prices and a looming U.S. economic recession. The kingdom's wily old minister wanted to maintain a balance, siphoning off just enough out of consumer's pockets to keep the kingdom in opulent palaces and extravagant gift items for U.S. Presidents -- all without strangling the egg-laden Yankee goose that made the royal family's life both fabulous and secure. Then too, no one in the oil patch wanted prices so high as to make the search for alternative fuels economical.


How quaint such reasoning seems today with Ali-al Naimi running the Saudi oil ministry. The U.S. economy is tanking (literally) with oil prices having hit an unthinkable new high of $126 a barrel all the while with OPEC thumbing its nose at George W. Bush's lame plea to his very dear friend, Saudi King Abdullah to pump more oil. This in spite of being the recipient of the showy piece of neckwear that comes with the King Abdul Azziz Order of Merit and all the kissing and hand holding and weapons package procuring during his last swing through the Middle East.