Iraq Should Have An Oil Trust

As faithful readers of the blog know, I have long backed the idea of an oil trust for Iraq, along the lines of the Alaska Permanent Fund, which directs a flow of part of the state's oil profits directly to individuals each year. In this post, Glenn Reynolds notes that the Wall Street Journal editorial page Saturday advocated the same idea. Anyway, it's an occasion to note that my position has been advocated, independently, by Nobel Prize-winning economists Milton Friedman and Vernon Smith, retired Newsday reporter Lou Dolinar, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the New America Foundation's Steven Clemons, and Iraqi leader Ahmed Chalabi. A pretty broad coalition, I think.

By Michael Barone