Economists and businessmen are generally expected to exhibit a blind faith in the virtues of individual self-interest and the absence of government intervention. However, such faith also often blinds policy makers and other free market advocates to the reality that there often exist very reasoned, politically necessary, and more foresighted economic justifications for petroleum subsidization or at least an exceptionally long period of time over which these subsidies might be reduced. Egypt's economic and political history since 2005, and the experience of the global food crisis in 2007/2008, efficiently serve as the background for such an argument and yield a policy prescription that focuses rightly upon proper timing as an element of any future action in the sphere of subsidies.
