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The New York Times reports (and Yahoo! News repeats without any paywall) that the government of Saudi Arabia is threatening to sell $750 billion in treasury securities and other unidentified assets if Congress passes the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The bill would allow foreign governments to be sued by 9/11 victims and their families. The threat was issued by Saudi Arabian foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir to unnamed US lawmakers while he was visiting Washington sometime last month, on the grounds that these assets could be in danger of being frozen by US courts.
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Saudi Arabia Threatens to Sell $750 Billion in US Assets If 9/11 Bill Passes
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(Score: 5, Informative) by M. Baranczak on Sunday April 17 2016, @01:56AM
The Saudi government doesn't have anywhere close to $750 billion in US treasuries. First, note the summary: "$750 billion in treasury securities and other unidentified assets ". Here's a spreadsheet [treasury.gov] that was cited as a source in the Wikipedia article you linked. It says that "Asian oil exporters" (a group that includes Saudi Arabia) hold $228 billion in US treasuries. And bear in mind, this includes all the people who live in those countries and own treasuries, it's not just national governments.
The Saudi king probably told his accountant to estimate the total value of all his US-based assets, then doubled that estimate, and arrived at a figure of $750 billion. It's all rather murky, since we don't know what assets they're talking about, but my guess is that this would hurt the Saudis worse than anyone else. If you're trying to sell that much of anything, it'll take many years. And if everyone knows you're in a hurry to sell, then you'll have to sell it for much less than you would have otherwise.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Sunday April 17 2016, @04:13AM
Let's not forget also that Saudi Arabia is spending through its sovereign wealth fund already (because of the low price of oil). So the Saudis are probably already selling US assets.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SanityCheck on Sunday April 17 2016, @01:47PM
Indeed. This looks like BS grand standing. They have to sell these assets to stay afloat. So what they will do is act like they are beginning to sell them to try to get concessions. Those guys can go fuck themselves. They are pumping oil now through the roof to put US companies out of business. At the same fuckin time when Oil was at $100 / barrel and we were suffering cause of it, these motherfuckers did nothing! They have overplayed their hand and now the world is moving towards renewables. We will leave them in their shitty desert penniless and their own people will eat them alive once they money runs out. All things they fuckin deserve.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday April 17 2016, @04:05PM
Those guys can go fuck themselves.
If what you say is true, then they already are.