How’s this: maybe we encouraged Arab/Chinese SWF investment so WE could pull the plug?
This is Dr. Gal Luft, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in MAY, 2008, warning about HUGE investments by sovereign investment funds. Here’s a bit:
“…we are again facing a similar dilemma about what to do with government surpluses just that this time it is not our own government’s surplus that knocks on the door of our financial system but that of some of the world’s least democratic, least transparent and least friendly governments.
“The rise of sovereign wealth funds (SWF) as new power brokers in the world economy should not be looked at as a singular phenomenon but rather as part of what can be defined a new economic world order. This new order … has enabled Russia and OPEC members to accumulate unprecedented wealth and elevate themselves to the position of supreme economic powers. Oil-rich countries of OPEC and Russia have more than quadrupled their revenues, raking some $1.2 trillion in revenues last year alone. At $125 a barrel oil they are expected to earn close to $2 trillion dollars in 2008…
“The gradual penetration of Shariah (Islamic Law) into West’s corporate world is another characteristic of the new geo-economic order. Islamic countries operating on the basis of compliance with Shariah have strict guidelines of economic conduct. Banks and investment houses gradually employ a new breed of executive—the Chief Shariah Officer (CSO)—whose sole job is to ensure compliance with Islamic law and hence attract more business from the Muslim investors. Over time, such compliance could put pressure on companies not consistent with Islamic principles to become more ‘Islamic.’ Imams sitting on Shariah boards could be pressured to withhold their approval of any business dealing directly or indirectly connected with countries or institutions that are offensive to Islam…”
Read it all. Is it POSSIBLE that we encouraged SWF investment to AVOID or, at least, throw a wrench into their institutional takeover? Uncle Sam plays Death Poker? If so, Obama’d better learn the g