SocraticGadfly: Saudi Arabia 2008, meet Spain 1560s

July 09, 2008

Saudi Arabia 2008, meet Spain 1560s

High-dollar crude isn’t so nice to Saudi Arabia; inflation is at 11 percent per annum.

The header of this blog?

All the Aztec and Inca gold looted by Cortes and Pizarro, followed by the silver of San Luis Potosi and elsewhere, passed through Spain like Ex-Lax through a colicky baby.

The Spain of Philip II, Spanish Inquisition days, Monty Python aside, exacerbated the situation with expelling the Jews, many of whom were merchants, generally denigrating trade, and not developing a full-blown economy.

Does that sound familiar? Saudi Arabia doing a pass-through with petrodollars for U.S. weapons hardware, importing Indians and Pakistanis to do the dirty work, etc.?

Read the whole thing and judge for yourself how accurate the parallels are.

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