Where did all the money go?
...To Iraq (and friends), stupid

In the November 29, 2007 edition of the New York Times, Peter Goodman wrote. "Credit flowing to American companies is drying up at a pace not seen in decades, threatening the creation of jobs and the expansion of businesses, while intensifying worries that the economy may be headed for recession.

The combined value of two leading sources of credit — outstanding commercial and industrial bank loans, and short-term loans known as commercial paper — peaked at about $3.3 trillion in August, according to data from the Federal Reserve. By mid-November, such credit was down to $3 trillion, a drop of nearly 9 percent.

Not once in the years since the Fed began tracking such numbers in 1973 has this artery of finance constricted so rapidly. Smaller declines preceded three recessions going back to 1975; at other times such declines tended to occur in conjunction with an economic downturn. "

As usual, the media addresses only the symptoms, not the root cause of America's credit crunch. Blame it on sub-prime mortgages! Blame it on the lenders! Blame it on the banks! But please don't blame it on the reckless spending of the Bush administration.

During the Bush administration, the national debt has swollen from $5 trillion to $9 billion - a minus $29,900 for every American.

To support the war, and the price of oil, we have to borrow dollars. The real interest rates go up, as the federal funds rate goes down to stem the tide of foreclosures. Consequently, the dollar collapses.

Now how can the real interest rates go up while the federal funds rate goes down? Take a look at Abu Dhabi's purchase of 11% convertible notes from Citibank. Junk bonds are at 9.4%. This a a true measure of where interest rates are going - up, up, up. The federal funds rate decrease is just a band-aid to stem the inevitable tide.

The instability caused by the Iraq war has driven the price of oil to just shy of $100 a barrel. Does the media ever tell you that the cost of production of 1 barrel of Saudi crude is slightly under $2.00... two bucks!

Let's get back to Citibank's savior, Abu Dhabi. Citibank's convertible notes were purchased by $650 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. The $650 billion comes to $169,000 for each citizen of Abu Dhabi. Compare that to the US national debt, at minus $29,900 for each American.

The rape and selling of America to foreign interests will certainly help the US stock markets as it did when the Abu Dhabi purchase of Citibank's convertible notes was announced.

The citizens of Abu Dhabi will get only richer, while Americans can only sink deeper into the hole.

It looks like "game over."