Newsgroup: it.economia.borsa
Titolo: Sharing, Alaska-Style

April 9, 2003
Sharing, Alaska-Style
By STEVEN C. CLEMONS
ASHINGTON — Though most Americans don't believe this war is about oil,
much of the rest of the world does. How the United States handles
Iraq's oil after the war is therefore crucial. For guidance, America
might look to its experiences in Japan after World War II and —
perhaps more surprisingly — in Alaska in the 1970's.
Most revolutions that produce stable democracies expand the number of
stakeholders in the nation's economy. America's occupation of Japan
succeeded not just because the United States purged Japan's warmongers
and established a peace constitution but because it imposed land
reform. American occupiers broke up vast estates held by the Japanese
aristocracy and redistributed the land to farmers, thus linking
Japan's most lucrative resource to millions of citizens. Now America
should do the same with Iraq's most lucrative resource, oil.
Here is where Alaska comes in. In the 1970's, during the construction
of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the state realized that the new oil
leases would produce an enormous windfall. Its citizens set up the
Alaska Permanent Fund to manage this income, directing that the
revenue be invested, the principal remain untouched and the gains be
used for state infrastructure investments. A part of the proceeds was
distributed as dividends to every Alaskan. By July 2002, the fund had
grown to more than $23.5 billion. Dividend payments to Alaskan
families averaged about $8,000 per year.
Iraq's annual oil revenue comes to approximately $20 billion. A
postwar government could invest $12 billion a year in infrastructure
to rebuild the nation. The other $8 billion could anchor an Iraq
Permanent Fund, to be invested in a diverse set of international
equities. The resulting income would go directly to Iraq's six million
households. These payments would make a huge difference to families in
a country whose per capita gross domestic product rests at about
$2,500.
Establishing this fund would show a skeptical world that America will
make sure Iraq's oil revenues directly benefit Iraqi citizens. By
spreading capital broadly among new stakeholders, the plan would also
prevent a sliver of Iraq's elite from becoming a new kleptocracy.
Finally, the creation of an Iraqi oil fund could begin to help repair
America's damaged image abroad — itself no small dividend at a time
when many people remain suspicious about American motives in the
Middle East. 
Steven C. Clemons is executive vice president of the New America
Foundation.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company 


Questo genietto ha avuto questa bella pensata.
Nei prossimi anni il petrolio iracheno andrebbe per il 60% a finanziare la
ricostruzione delle infrastrutture dell'Iraq (e quindi magari nelle tasche
degli occidentali), l'altro 40% verrebbe investito nelle borse occidentali
(magari al solo scopo di ripulire il portafoglio di molte grosse istituzioni
bancarie occidentali dai cadaveri più grossi e maleodoranti).
I profitti (eventuali) dei fondi investiti in azioni andrebbero distribuiti
ai cittadini iracheni.
Nel frattempo gli iracheni mangiano sabbia.
Speriamo che sia un pesce d'aprile uscito in ritardo.
Comunque si prevede nei prossimi mesi una fioritura di idee su come derubare
gli iracheni anche di quello che decenni di dittature, di guerre e di
embargo hanno lasciato loro.