You Are Owned

For late-night talk show hosts, yukking up George W. Bush’s visit to the Middle East was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Supposedly on a mission promoting peace, between Israel and the Palestinians, asshole bush spent most of his trip rattling sabers against Iran. He spoke glowingly in Abu Dhabi of democracy, but spent most of his trip brandishing swords and holding hands with dictators who are the U.S.’s allies across the region.

One thing however, seems to have gone unnoticed: Bush’s timid, pansy-like request to Saudi King Abdullah and other rulers in the Gulf to rein in soaring oil prices because, said Bush, they are hurting the U.S. economy.

But the point is that the current economic crisis in America was not triggered by Arab but by American greed. The disastrous mortgage melt down provoked by sub-prime loans. That collapse was the result of the bush administration (remember bush's plan for an ownership society) and U.S. regulatory agencies refusing to reign in the unscrupulous policies of the mortgage industry, despite repeated warnings of looming calamity. The only "owner" produced by this bush league plan was that American citizens are being owned by the banks reminiscent of the evil Mr. Potter from the holiday classic "Its A Wonderful Life."

Second point: while our government controlled media was focused on bush’s pitch to the Arabs for lower petroleum prices—which, by the way was politely but firmly turned aside and laughed at by a Saudi official—at the same time, hugely wealthy Arab investors were helping to bail out some of America’s largest financial institutions, staggering in the wake of the sub-prime crisis.

For instance, as bush was lap dancing with King Abdullah, the King’s nephew, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, was increasing his stake in Citigroup.

This was not the first time the Prince had invested in the stricken company. In fact, he was already Citigroup's largest individual shareholder: Kingdom Holding, which he controls, owns 3.6% of Citirgoup. Meanwhile, the Kuwait Investment Authority, another sovereign wealth fund, with at least $225 billion in assets, announced it would invest $3 billion in Citigroup and $2 billion in a very grateful Merrill Lynch.

Those were just the latest investments by Middle Eastern sovereign funds in ailing U.S. financial institutions. Last November, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority paid 7.5 billion dollars for a 4.9% interest in Citigroup.

Add up the percentages that those different sovereign funds hold in key institutions like Citigroup and they start looking impressive--as does their influence over management.

What additional policies of major U.S. financial institutions could be influenced by the Prince and other immensely wealthy investors from the Gulf?

The ultimate irony: Those huge sovereign funds riding to America’s rescue are, of course, fueled by the rampant petroleum prices that Americans are paying.

At what point does all this become a major U.S. political issue?