How much of the US do the Saudi's actually own?

[absyntheNsugar]

I read in Michael Moore's book that the Saudis own a great deal of the US - and that if they were suddenly to sell it might cause serious economic problems.

Knowing next to nothing about this - what can the informed tell me about this?

[revree]

1. Put it this way... if it uses petrol...the Saudis own it.

cars, heaters, planes, trains, whatever we make using petrol products...

[absyntheNsugar]

2. LOL...well obviously

But beyond that I read they own a good chunk of real estate as well has a lot of stock in US companies. If they suddenly did a sell off....

[mn9driver]

3. If the Saudis don't own it, the Japanese do.

About the only major properties (public corporations) that don't have large foreign ownership stakes are those which are prohibited by law: airlines, defense contractors and the like.

[_Jumper_]

4. What about the Europeans?

They own more than the Japanese or Arabs, yet somehow they manage to escape criticism for it. I wonder why...:eyes:

[mn9driver]

5. Europe consists of numerous sovereign nations

each of which is less or more (these days less) on happy-or not so happy-terms with the US. Individual national holdings in Europe (German investors, Dutch investors, Polish investors, etc) aren't on the same scale as the national holdings of Saudi Arabia and Japan. All of the EU countries would have to sell (or refuse to buy) in unison to equal or exceed the economic impact of mass Saudi or Japanese divestiture or boycott of US holdings--or more importantly, in US government debt instruments.

There may be some here who worry about Saudi or Japanese investment due to xenophobic or racist impulses. I am not one of them. I worry because they are very large national blocks who have shown tendencies under some circumstances in the past to act in unison --especially the Saudis, whose US investments are very narrowly held.

The reason it likely will not happen is because a mass sell off would cause markets to collapse, as would a boycott of US debt, thereby destroying their investment before they could effectively liquidate.

[_Jumper_]

7. That was informative. thanks

n/t

[gottaB]

6. I remember the figure half a trillion being bandied about

That's how much Saudi's had invested in American equities and bonds. That was before 9/11 and Bush policy in the aftermath. Since then many Saudis have withdrawn their funds, and I believe it did have a depressing effect on the market.

Here is a link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.22D.saudi.withdraw.htm

[Deja Q]

8. Saddam once said something about those who control the oil...

The Saudis own us all.

Who needs the Saudi's trillions in our economy? The falloff of Peak oil will decimate the economy completely.

And the corporate fallout of moving jobs and HQ's offshore. With people out of work or getting replacement jobs that can barely sustain their lives, forget lifestyles...

Or the housing bubble...

I, sadly, could go on... but enough has been mentioned.

I see only a very, VERY, bad future for this county - and definitely for the industrialized world once oil costs skyrocket. From entertainment to bare essentials, right down to food and water and our comparatively advanced hospitals for health care, oil is involved in our very lives. And don't forget, prices have doubled per barrel since 1999... the oil isn't free flowing any more, and with the cost to collect the stuff (nobody produces oil, they just dig it up, so why they call it "oil production" is nothing more than a cheap ruse.)

[9215]

9. Between the Saudis and Kuwaitis they owned

about 20% of the US T-Bills back in the early 80's. You might google "petro-dollars".