Saudi Arabia

By Dave Lindorff

What nobody in the corporate media is mentioning amid all the
blather about the $700-billion Paulson bailout proposal is the impact
it will have on the US dollar.

We are told that this huge gift to the financial sector—the
assumption, at top dollar, of all the bad debt they’ve piled up--will
be at taxpayer expense, but that’s only the half of it. (Really only
the quarter of it because since the US government is technically
bankrupt already, spending more than it takes in each year, all that
money will be borrowed, and will be added to the national debt, meaning
that just as the real cost of the $500-billion Iraq War is closer to $2
trillion, the real cost of the $700 billion bailout will be more like
$1.5-2.5 trillion.)

In the wake of Tom DeLay's impending resignation, here's an interesting conversation with an expert on the Texas money machine...

Former State Dept. official George Keeney interviews Robert Bryce, author of "Cronies." Also, check out the other interviews, especially one of former NSA Director William Odom -- to hear his criticism of the Bush administration and the Iraq War.

Although he was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Robert Bryce makes his home in Texas. He's put a lot of work into following the Texas money network, which he probably understands as well as anyone who's not a big time insider. In addition to two books, which look at that network from different perspectives, including its impact on the world outside Texas, he's written widely on a number of issues. In this conversation we talk about his recent trip to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, about oil supply, about the Palestinians, American politics, and raising bees. This podcast runs about 45 minutes.