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08/09/2005 Archived Entry: "Saudi recall of investment"

Gordon P. writes, One of the first moves of Saudi King Abdullah, the newly-crowned successor to the late King Fahd, will be to recall US$ 360 _BILLION_ in Saudi foreign investments that the Saudi Gov't had made during the previous 18 months. This is a HUGE pile of dollars --- on the order of 3% of the US GDP. If not done cautiously, unloading just the Saudi's holdings of US$ 60 Billion in T-Bonds might be enough to cause the entire U.S. Bond Market to implode...Some speculate that this might be the first move in redenominating the price of Saudi oil in terms of Euros, rather than dollars. (Some have even speculated that threatening to redenominate _Iraqi_ oil in Euros rather than dollars was the _true_ "unforgivable sin" that caused His Imperial Majesty Geedubya I to decide to declare war on Iraq...).Hat tip to Claire Wolfe.