Saudi Arabia threatens to sell all US assets if 911 bill passed

[GK4Herd]

From the NYT...


WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.


The rest of the article...



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/w...allout-if-congress-passes-9-11-bill.html?_r=0

 

[i am herdman]

I would love to bomb those ****ers.

 

[GK4Herd]

I know it will be painful economically to move away from our use of oil, but the time can't come quick enough that we can rid ourselves of our dependency on that whole part of the world.

 

[herdfan429]

The Saudis are in deep financial trouble. They need cash in a big way with depressed oil prices. They won't divest anything in the us. They know if they do their economy will collapse further

 

[Rock98Dog]

Their fear of having assets frozen or forfeited is pretty telling of their guilt IMO.

 

[-CarlHungus-]

Don't they use the dollar as the standard in OPEC? Or isn't oil traded/priced based on the dollar?

Seems like if they tried to hurt the U.S. economy/dollar it would just hurt them.

 

[herdfan06]

I know it will be painful economically to move away from our use of oil, but the time can't come quick enough that we can rid ourselves of our dependency on that whole part of the world.

Roughly 10% comes fro Saudi Arabia, roughly 31% comes from OPEC Countries and roughly 42% comes from Canada; when are you we going to finally annex Canada and make that 100%?

 

[herdfan06]

Their fear of having assets frozen or forfeited is pretty telling of their guilt IMO.

I think anyone would have a fear of having their assets frozen/forfeited, regardless of guilt.

 

[GK4Herd]

Don't they use the dollar as the standard in OPEC? Or isn't oil traded/priced based on the dollar?

Seems like if they tried to hurt the U.S. economy/dollar it would just hurt them.

This was the exact consensus on Reddit as well. Many said that it would be an impossible undertaking to sell US assets but said if they did it would be for a deeply discounted amount. The US could rebuy the assets and come out way ahead. I'm not sure I understand this but that was the general discussion.

 

[raleighherdfan]

The last thing we want is for oil to NOT be traded around the world in US$$$. THE LAST THING WE WANT! It could end our leadership position as world's reserve currency over night. Would be a complete disaster.

 

[herdfan429]

The last thing we want is for oil to NOT be traded around the world in US$$$. THE LAST THING WE WANT! It could end our leadership position as world's reserve currency over night. Would be a complete disaster.

That's what the Russians Chinese and democrats want

 

[raleighherdfan]

That's what the Russians Chinese and democrats want

Exactly.

The Chinese yuan will be recognized as a World Reserve Currency later this year despite their constant manipulation. They (along with Russia) have been openly buying or selling oil using their own currency for a while between various producers.

The currency wars going on now are either being kept quiet or purposely ignored by the general public. This is yet another reason I am so against intentionally pulling ourselves out of a world leadership role. It sets us up for a pretty big fall IMO.

 

[raleighherdfan]

This was the exact consensus on Reddit as well. Many said that it would be an impossible undertaking to sell US assets but said if they did it would be for a deeply discounted amount. The US could rebuy the assets and come out way ahead. I'm not sure I understand this but that was the general discussion.

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's the equivalent of a company buying its own stock with worthless dollars as it goes out of business. In most cases something is "deeply discounted" for very specific reasons. It sounds like the consensus on Reddit is that the Fed will bail everyone out again. Just don't see how that would work in this specific scenario.

 

[Rock98Dog]

Yeah, why would they sell U.S. treasuries back at a discount when we would sale new treasuries at face value to buy them?

 

[i am herdman]

I am sorry but if we find out they were(their government) involved in 9-11, that is probably an act of war. And if they sell our assets I say we destroy their Air Force and major military installations.