One of the remarkable observations that can be made today is that there is a uniform anti-Israel bias in the major media and governmental reporting. This is true of virtually every major news source and reflects the administration's position whether Democrat or Republican. This has led to a host of "conspiracy theories" attempting to explain this phenomena, especially in light of the fact that there is a strong grassroots identity with and support for Israel in the general population of the nation. We have written on this subject from time to time (see Tzemach Letter: "Conspiracy Theories", January-February 1998; "A Christian Revolution", September-October 1993). Is there a conspiracy or does this phenomena simply reflect a natural function of business? We will set forth the simple thesis here that the "conspiracy" is a result of an enormous transfer of wealth to the oil-rich Moslem states and their reinvestment of that wealth back into the U.S. economy. So, in effect, the quest for material prosperity for almost 30 years since the beginning of the oil embargo in 1974 has resulted in a transfer of ownership and, hence, control of many major corporations in this country. Whoever owns a controlling interest of stock in a major corporation obviously determines the policies of that corporation.

Since 1974 there has been an enormous transfer of wealth to oil-producing Moslem states.

Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the oil-rich Moslem states adopted a new strategy in their battle against Israel. US President Nixon, at the very last moment in that war, shipped desperately needed supplies to Israel which helped Israel survive. I remember an article in a newspaper at that time showing the king of Saudi Arabia pointing his rifle to the West — toward the US — and declaring war on the West. This war would not be waged in the conventional manner; it would be an economic war with oil as the primary weapon. This led to the oil embargo of 1974 which, in turn, caused oil prices to increase by more than an order of magnitude. There was much talk then about the need to become energy independent but the desire for material prosperity prevailed and the US is much more dependent on imported oil now than it was in 1974. Since then, there has been an enormous transfer of wealth to oil-producing Moslem states. Much of that wealth has, in turn, been reinvested in the US In the early 1980’s, there were many questions raised in Congress about the implications of such investments, but efforts to investigate were quenched, presumably by the Executive branch. So now, every year, there continues to be an enormous transfer of wealth and, hence, potential control of major US companies to the oil-rich Moslem nations without anyone asking questions about the resulting implications.

Can we determine the amount of capital that could be available for selected investments that would create the kind of situation described above? The answer is yes. According to figures published by the US Government, this nation has imported a low of 1,851,000,000 barrels of oil (1985) to a high of 3,911,000,000 barrels (1998) per year. The market price of oil from 1974 to the present has varied from approximately $14 per barrel (1974) to a high of $40 per barrel (1981). When we multiply the market price per barrel by the number of barrels of oil imported per year and integrate this over the period of time from 1974 to the present we find a transfer of wealth of approximately $1.5 trillion. It is difficult for us, as individuals, to associate any real meaning to such a large number. In order to understand what this may mean we must consider what this amount could purchase in the stock market.

From the information published from proposed Congressional investigations that occurred in the early 80’s, we believe that major investments have occurred in banking and real estate. Due to the importance of the major media and the obvious bias exhibited in that media, we will speculate that considerable investments have also been made in this industry. Our federal elected official have declined to exercise the responsibility to investigate this very real threat to the sovereignty of this nation, so no one knows exactly what kinds of investments have taken place.

We have considered major companies in both banking and media. To determine how much capital would be necessary to "buy" controlling interest we simply multiplied the common stock issued by the market price. With this simplistic approach what could we buy with our $1.5 trillion? The chart on the left gives us a good idea.

We believe that effective control of major banking and media companies have been transferred to interest in the oil-producing, Moslem states.

Even though there has been approximately $1.5 trillion of capital transferred since the oil embargo of 1974, not all of this amount would have been available for reinvestment. In addition, other stocks could have been purchased in areas such as manufacturing. Even with these exceptions, the entire stock of all these major media and banking firms could easily be bought with the capital available. In reality, if a party desired to control a firm no more than 51% is needed and in many cases much less, so conceivably many more companies could be controlled in this manner. We believe that effective control of major banking and media companies have been transferred to interest in the oil-producing, Moslem states. Through significant stock ownership, control of the management of companies can be achieved and, hence, these companies begin to reflect the policy of those with controlling stock interest. This, we believe, is the explanation why major media tend always to reflect an anti-Israel bias. Control of banking and media obviously directly impacts government policy.

The bottom line is this: the US has sold its national soul for the sake of a booming economy. The illusion is that it will never end. It will end because it will meet the judgment of God and most likely very soon.