Greg Palast: George of Arabia: Better Kiss Your Abe 'Goodbye'

[babylonsister]

George of Arabia: Better Kiss Your Abe 'Goodbye'
Energy Policy | George W. Bush
by Greg Palast | January 17, 2008



Bend over, pull out your wallet and kiss your Abe 'goodbye.' The Lincolns have got to go - and so do the Hamiltons and Jacksons.

Those bills in your billfold aren't yours anymore. The landlords of our currency - Citibank, the national treasury of China and the House of Saud - are foreclosing and evicting all Americans from the US economy.

It's mornings like this, when I wake up hung-over to photos of the King of Saudi Arabia festooning our President with gold necklaces, that I reluctantly remember that I am an economist; and one with some responsibility to explain what the hell Bush is doing kissing Abdullah's camel.

Let's begin by stating why Bush is not in Saudi Arabia. Bush ain't there to promote 'Democracy' nor peace in Palestine, nor even war in Iran. And, despite what some pinhead from CNN stated, he sure as hell didn't go to Riyadh to tell the Saudis to cut the price of oil.

What's really behind Bush's hajj to Riyadh is that America is in hock up to our knickers. The sub-prime mortgage market implosion, hitting a dozen banks with over $100 billion in losses, is just the tip of the debt-berg.

Since taking office, Bush has doubled the federal debt to more than $5 trillion. And, according to US Treasury figures, on net, foreign investors have purchased close to 100% of that debt. That's $3 trillion borrowed from the Saudis, the Chinese, the Japanese and others.

Now, Bush, our Debt Junkie-in-Chief, needs another fix. The US Treasury, Citibank, Merrill-Lynch and other financial desperados need another hand-out from Abdullah's stash. Abdullah, in turn, gets this financial juice by pumping it out of our pockets at nearly $100 a barrel for his crude.

Bush needs the Saudis to charge us big bucks for oil. The Saudis can't lend the US Treasury and Citibank hundreds of billions of US dollars unless they first get these US dollars from the US. The high price of oil is, in effect, a tax levied by Bush but collected by the oil industry and the Gulf kingdoms to fund our multi-trillion dollar governmental and private debt-load.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12210

[KeepItReal]

1. "The high price of oil is, in effect, a tax levied by Bush but collected by the oil industry"

Palast nails it

[Turbineguy]

2. 24 million barrels per day

The Bush premium is about $40 per barrel. That's just about $1 billion per day.

We are fools to have a fool for president.

[earthboundmisfit]

3. WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.

And that's an understatement. :mad:

[FSogol]

4. K&R n/t

[n2doc]

5. Great Article

And that is why Bushco will never allow any serious attempt at raising CAFE standards, fights alternative energy proposals (except for ethanol, which uses more oil than it produces in energy), and keeps us as dependant as they can on oil. And congress goes right along with it.

It remains to be seen if the revolution in solar tech will be allowed to put a dent in our energy imports. I suspect not.

[formercia]

6. A tax paid twice with interest

once when we buy the oil and again when the debt is repaid with interest.

[hisownpetard]

7. This is why I didn't like it when Hillary said, during the last debate, that Bush was 'over there

begging" for them to cut the price of oil.
It made it sound like he was fighting for our welfare.
Bull.
That would never happen, because he doesn't care and he doesn't beg.
He's over there cutting a deal that will make the Saudis and Bush's cronies even richer than they are now.
He's complicit. Once more, he's giving the American people the shiv.
And he's coming home with his Flav-o-flav gold timepiece hanging from his stupid little chicken neck.
That's all he cares about.

[Yael]

8. That was an excellent read

Lord, how I despise *

[bananas]

9. Why does this remind me of 1979?