> Two-thirds of the world's untapped oil reserves are in the
> Middle East. That whole region's going to be on fire for as
> long as anybody wants petroleum, and, with prices breaking
> $75 a barrel, a repeat of the 70s energy crisis looks
> possible.
> Time to buy a plot o' land and start a farm. (hopefully not)
>
Yes, and its because of this the oil industry has reached a level of influence that makes them almost as powerful as the U.S. government. The U.S. isn't the only one who fucks with foreigners; oil companies in Africa bribe to have enviromentalists executed by the government, bribe heads of state, etc. Unfortunately, non-reliance on oil is not in their best interests, although it's certainly in the best interests of anyone who wants to survive into the not-so-distant-future.
As for my plot of land, I shall evict all of my neighbors at gun-point, tear down their houses, and replace them with mud huts. I will then force them to subsist on nothing more than rice and beans, and however many deer/humans they can hunt and kill for meat. I will then take the best cuts of their meat for consumption by myself and my companians. If they cannot produce enough food to survive, I shall gather them up into a militia, and force them to raid other groups of people for supplies, weapons, and nubile young women for my personal enjoyment.
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