>Was I right to pick up skepticism in your interview of Spiro?
Not at all. I thought his argument - that most of the petrodollar windfall went into the major financial markets, particularly U.S. Treasury bonds, with very little of it going to poor countries, despite canonical stories to the contrary - was very persuasive. Ditto the political advantages enjoyed by the U.S. I thought he was a bit on the boring side, and he certainly wasn't compelling enough for a full half hour. I wish I'd cut back on his time budget and extended Adolph Reed's.
Doug