Americans provide energy security to Europe at a cheap price. The Europeans should then pay back Americans for the value they have been receiving for free, and at the expense of Americans. There are more Europeans than Americans. How about each American receives $500 per month from Europe? $500 per month per capita would be just a symbolic number, as a fair price could be much higher than $500.
Huh?? Most of Europe's energy comes from the Middle East, the East (Russia, etc.) or from oil drilling in the North Sea. The energy (oil, gas, etc.) in Europe does not come from U.S. How is the U.S. providing "energy security to Europe at a cheap price"? How has Europe been receiving "value for free"?
That is why they should pay, because the Americans get it for them for a cheaper price, and it costs Americans. Without the Americans, Europe could be paying more than double, and they would be walking on four just to get the oil.
How do Americans get oil and gas for Europeans at a cheaper price? European-based Oil companies are involved in getting oil for Europe in the Middle East, not American firms for the most part. All the Iraq oil contracts went to European firms, and many European countries had troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oil is a fungible commodity traded on the open market. There is nothing the Americans are doing which stopped that would lead to Europe paying more than double for oil and gas. You can actually make the case that many things that Americans have done acually raised the price of oil for periods of time (for example - Invading Iraq). It should be noted that Europeans already pay much more for oil and gas at a retail level already (mainly due to taxes) when compared to Americans.
They are in the middle east thanks to the Americans. You are adding more reasons for why europeans should pay americans. Not only the low price of oil, but business in the middle east is another reason they should pay. So each American should receive a share of profits from european oil companies. Without Americans they would not get the business and the security for free.
Here is an idea. Check the price of a gallon/liter of milk in europe. Then find the energy stored in a gallon of milk (calories in milk). From there you price the price per Calorie. Once the price per calorie of milk is known, you should be able to derive the price of a gallon of oil because the number of calories in a gallon of oil is also known.You would then arrive at a fair price of oil. I would not be surprised if the result is jaw dropping. In addition you would need another increase in fair price of oil, because energy from milk is consumed by humans only and cannot attain speed/gain time. So the price per calorie in oil should have the highest price multiple.
I'd rather see them pay us back for the military security we continue to provide. That's the only reason they were able to offer their citizens cradle to grave welfare, not that that's worked out too well.
You do realize that all of those military bases we placed in western Europe during the Cold War era were to protect our interests against the Soviet Union. Many Europeans would have gladly seen they all gone and viewed the military presence as a burden. Now that most of the bases are closed down - most Europeans are glad to see them shuttered up. The U.S. military presence in the Middle East is for our own economic interests. You could easily stake the argument that this military presence leads to an increase of the price of oil for Europe and not a reduction. You also are ignoring that many European nations also have a military presence in the region. There are far more European naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and off Somalia than U.S. naval ships. What nations do you think are leading the anti-piracy patrols?