The Cartel We Love to Hate; Americans despise OPEC as a conspiracy against cheap gas. But we may have a common interest in stable--not low--energy prices.

Publication: Newsweek

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Byline: Robert J. Samuelson

We ought to reconsider OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). For years, we've imagined it as a monstrous conspiracy designed to gouge oil-consuming countries and, in particular, to deprive Americans of their birthright to cheap gasoline. OPEC's only saving grace, we've believed, is that it doesn't work

especially well. Fine. Well, we may be wrong on all counts. Since 1999, OPEC has increasingly succeeded in setting oil prices, and this hasn't much harmed us. It may not in the future, either.

Just last week, OPEC announced a 10 percent cut in production that, by the standard logic, is ruinous. Prices already hover around $30 a barrel, and OPEC's 11 members provide about two fifths of the world's supply....

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