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Saudi Arabia to Invest $20 Billion in Infrastructure, Mostly in U.S.
New York Times ^ | 05/20/2017 | MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

Posted on 05/21/2017 5:48:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

As President Trump begins his first presidential trip abroad in Saudi Arabia, an investment company run by one of his top supporters, the billionaire Stephen A. Schwarzman, has secured an enormous investment from the Middle Eastern kingdom.

The company, Blackstone, which Mr. Schwarzman helped found, said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had committed $20 billion to a new investment fund aimed at infrastructure projects, primarily in the United States.

The commitment is about half of the capital Blackstone plans to raise for the fund. All told, including potential borrowed money, the new fund could invest more than $100 billion in infrastructure projects, the company said in its statement.

The fund was one of several business deals between an American company and Saudi Arabia announced after Mr. Trump’s arrival. At a ceremony in Riyadh on Saturday, General Electric said it had agreements for $15 billion worth of projects.

And the Trump administration helped line up $110 billion worth of arms deals, negotiations in which senior officials played prominent roles. For instance, Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, personally called the chief executive of Lockheed Martin to cut the price of a radar system.

Lockheed Martin has since announced, among other deals, a $6 billion commitment to building 150 Black Hawk helicopters in the kingdom.

In its statement on Saturday, Blackstone said it had begun discussions with Saudi Arabia about a year ago. The American investment company said it had already invested in over $40 billion worth of projects tied to infrastructure over the last 15 years.

Investing in American infrastructure has been advocated by lawmakers and business leaders for some time, with both Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton endorsing modernizing aging airports, bridges and energy systems through public-private partnerships.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: infrastructure; investment; saudiarabia

1 posted on 05/21/2017 5:48:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

MAGA!


2 posted on 05/21/2017 5:50:58 AM PDT by Don Corleone (.leave the gun, take the canolis, take it to the mattress.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Trump is doing what he promised, but keep in mind he’s depending on the money of another country who’s citizens perpetrated 9/11.

Dare I say it, they should do something for this country.


3 posted on 05/21/2017 5:58:16 AM PDT by Spiridon
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To: Don Corleone
How does anyone not love this potus????

I am clueless at liberal idiocy.

We need infrastructure and are way in debt. So Trump gets the Saudis to pay for it.

Which liberals want their bridges to collapse???What is wrong with them? This potus is AWESOME.

4 posted on 05/21/2017 5:58:21 AM PDT by MarMema
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To: Spiridon
target Saudi Arabia
5 posted on 05/21/2017 5:58:59 AM PDT by MarMema
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe if they own it, they will be reluctant to destroy it. (Thus saving American lives.)


6 posted on 05/21/2017 6:00:11 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: SeekAndFind

Arming Sunnis? Wow. So they are giving us a couple billion, how charitable. It’s almost like Sunni ideology didn’t kill thousands on 9/11. Sounds like a great plan and our grandchildren will pay with their lives. Smart.


7 posted on 05/21/2017 6:00:13 AM PDT by momincombatboots (Gas attacks. Substitute Sadam for Assad and Iraq for Syria? How many American lives do you commit)
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To: SeekAndFind

Whatever the Saudis may be, suckers they aren’t. Nothing comes without a price.


8 posted on 05/21/2017 6:07:02 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: MarMema

it’s not like they are investing and not expecting something in return. Public private partnerships require a stream of revenue after the project is built. So the tolls on your newly built highway in some cases will be going to the Saudis.


9 posted on 05/21/2017 6:07:58 AM PDT by oincobx
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To: MarMema

it’s not like they are investing and not expecting something in return. Public private partnerships require a stream of revenue after the project is built. So the tolls on your newly built highway in some cases will be going to the Saudis.


10 posted on 05/21/2017 6:07:59 AM PDT by oincobx
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To: Don Corleone

Winning!

Am I tired of all the winning yet?

Checking. Checking. Nope.


11 posted on 05/21/2017 6:09:24 AM PDT by Noumenon ("Only the dead have seen an end to war.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Why don’t they invest in providing asylum for moslem refugees now flooding the West? Why is that asking them too much?


12 posted on 05/21/2017 6:10:32 AM PDT by Eternal_Bear
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To: Spiridon

Weapons for the Saudis, mosques & Wahhabi madrassas for us. What could go wrong?


13 posted on 05/21/2017 6:17:21 AM PDT by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam. Buy ammo.")
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To: Noumenon

Just imagine what diabolical situation Hillary would have concocted by now, and be happy.


14 posted on 05/21/2017 6:18:17 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: SeekAndFind
I read something this morning (can't recall where right now) that suggested that, as is the Saudi MO, a large portion of this $20B investment in infrastructure might well come in the form of mosques built to spread Saudi Wahhabism.

I'm not saying this is what's happening but the U.S. had better pay close attention to what kind of infrastructure the Saudis want to get involved in, and not just drag some Trojan Horse in the gate.

15 posted on 05/21/2017 6:20:36 AM PDT by skimbell
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To: SeekAndFind

My simple economic model is:

They got our dollars, we got their oil

China got our dollars, we got their crappy products.

Who won? The dollars have to come back here and be spent eventually. The Japanese bought a lot of real estate and drove the price up and then the price went down and they lost a lot of money. All the billions of dollars Zero gave away eventually have to come back. And then there is the issue of counterfeiting.

Where else in the world would you invest now? Europe, china, Russia, south America?

US situation is crappy but compared to the rest of the world situation, we look golden. With all these dollars looking for a place to land, there is inflation on the table. Somethings will deflate, others inflate.

So the issue may go back to the Wealth of Nations, where wealth is defined as generating more wealth. That is a definition that is not very concrete but the agricultural example is given that if you tile a wet field, it will now produce a crop and generate more wealth.

So bottom line is keep your eyes’ on the ball, WHERE is the money be spent, consumption (regulations, social justice, etc.) or wealth building.


16 posted on 05/21/2017 6:23:49 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Saudi Arabia to Invest $20 Billion in Infrastructure, Mostly in U.S.

Yesterday, the number was $40 Billion? Who got the other $20 Bil?...the Clintons??? /s


17 posted on 05/21/2017 9:12:33 AM PDT by GoldenPup
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To: PeterPrinciple

Well put.


18 posted on 05/21/2017 10:10:48 AM PDT by FreedomNotSafety (.)
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To: elcid1970

Is the United States expected to fight the Saudis wars in Syria and Yemen?

I hope not.

If Trump wants to take their money for guns and give Americans jobs, so be it.

I support Trump there, but getting into Syria, going after the Russians to win the Syrian war against Assad, can’t go there.


19 posted on 05/21/2017 7:10:31 PM PDT by Spiridon
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