Peter Bergen Quotes

The euro is going to be a big source of problems, not a source of help.

Russia does not have a modern economy: it's a petro-power. The only thing it sells that the world wants to buy is oil and natural gas. When was the last time anyone bought a Russian computer? A Russian car? A Russian cell phone? Russia is so dependent on high energy prices that if oil falls below $100 a barrel, the Kremlin can't meet payroll.

The First Law of Petropolitics: The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions in states that are highly dependent on oil exports for their income and have weak institutions or outright authoritarian governments.

The South presents right now the Nation’s No. 1 economic problem.

I grew up in Mexico City at a time when the country was a repressive one-party dictatorship almost wholly dependent on oil revenues.

Right now too much American time and resources are spent dealing with situations caused by our dependence on oil that we import from unstable countries.

Despite the previous efforts of Congresses, our addiction to foreign oil, as the President stated, is greater today than ever before. That dependency is a threat to our national security, and we must address that threat.

We clearly need to break our addiction on Saudi Arabian oil that is a security threat to the United States.

There are signs that the age of petroleum has passed its zenith. Adjusted for inflation, a barrel of crude oil now sells for three times its long-run average. The large western oil companies, which cartellised the industry for much of the 20th century, are now selling more oil than they find, and are thus in the throes of liquidation.

In my view, if you have one in 10 unemployed - something is wrong with the economy whether you call it recession or not.

When you talk about the oil wealth you compare nations. There are some nations with less than five million people. Nigeria has 150 million people. I cannot say that all the money earned from oil since 1958, when the first drop of oil was exported from this country to date, that the money has been effectively used.

Right now the problem in Thailand is we have high debt, but we don't know how to earn the new source of revenue back to Thailand. This is my job.

When governments run on petro dollars or petro revenue instead of taxes, then they kind of sever the link between taxation and representation, and if you're not being taxed, then you're not being represented.

The world is constantly in a race to the top, in terms of there's a limited amount of capital and you've got to figure where it's going. And if your currency is weakening, that means you're paying a load.

We are living in a new age of energy supply anxiety.

The problem with the economy isn't that people aren't paying their fair share of taxes.

A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils.

I'm not sure the oil producers are enjoying real growth. That troubles me. For experience has shown that oil can be more of a curse than a blessing. And not only in Africa.

The world’s dependence on Gulf oil will last for at least another generation.

The question, therefore, is how is it possible to solve the problem of Muslim poverty?

The middle class is at the heart of our budget problem.

Venezuela’s state oil company routinely spends more on social programs then it does on exploration and production.

The problem of oil, it might be tersely said, is that there is always too much or too little.

It is incorrect and unwise to imagine that some day all producer countries will be able to export their surplus oil, and Iran will not be able to export its oil.

I ask to be judged on the issue of unemployment.