OPEC Cuts Oil Supply; Now Let's Cut Our Own Demand

Fox News reports that OPEC is cutting production to prop up oil prices:

ABUJA, Nigeria — OPEC will cut global production by 1 million barrels a day to boost prices, Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president Edmund Daukoru said Wednesday.

"The cut itself is agreed," Daukoru told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in the Nigerian capital, adding the cuts would begin at the end of the month.

Weaning ourselves off of foreign oil has become a national security priority. Oil profits are being used to fund terrorists and tyrannical regimes. Control over the oil supply is also being used as leverage against efforts to stop the violence, which is rapidly spreading from the Middle East to other parts of the world.

Now might be a good time to cut your own consumption of gasoline and other oil products, if you can do so without too much inconvenience. Avoid unnecessary driving when you can. Combine trips. Make your next car more fuel efficient.

Am I proposing major, painful reductions in use of oil products? No. Do what you can comfortably do. That's enough.

Can we individuals make a difference, given that China and other parts of the world will still keep buying oil? Sure we can. We can make a difference in the amount of total demand for oil, which will necessarily affect the price. More importantly, we can reduce our own personal dependence on oil. The less you need gasoline from OPEC, the more free you are, and the better prepared you will be in case of a major interruption of the oil supply.

Do what works for you. Let's put the same squeeze on OPEC that it keeps putting on us.

Right back at ya', OPEC.