The End Of Dollar Hegemony is looming in the horizon, whether or not we attack Iran. If we do, Iran has threatened to close off the Straits of Hormuz, and has the capabilities to do so, effectively closing one of the largest shipping lanes for the world's oil supplies and driving up oil costs per barrel dramatically. If we don't, Iran will open it's oil market plan to trade exclusively in euros, effectively closing off the country with one of the greatest oil reserves from the country that consumes the most oil.
Since 1971, when President Nixon, in a move to protect the US's remaining gold reserves, took the dollar off the gold standard, where one dollar was equal to 1/35 of an ounce of gold, the Federal reserve has been printing money on a fiat money system, backed not by gold, but by an agreement with oil producing nations to accept only dollars for their oil. Many nations now had to keep dollars as a reserve currency, and pegged their monetary system to that dollar. In November of 2000, Saddam Hussein, having suffered under economic sanctions imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War by the US and UK, moved to accept only the euro as payment for his oil. This means that all the billions of dollars he was holding in reserve like an I.O.U. could now be called in by Mr. Hussein for payment. Thus we have one of the major factors of why the US went to war in Iraq, as the sanctions against Iraq were due to be lifted and the flow of Iraqi oil could continue at full speed, only in euros instead of dollars.
Now we have news of Syria snubbing the dollar, just another of a list of countries that the Bush administration has been pressuring, following Venezuela and Iran. At this point it would be fair to point out that Bush is not the one responsible for the dollar's loss of value, and that he's dealing with it the only way he knows how.
Eventually, if and when the dollar is replaced as the major reserve currency, all the countries that now hold dollars in reserve will send those dollars here, demanding payment. And so the foreclosure sale has begun. First, Bush has given away $7 billion in oil royalties to oil companies for exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Following that, Bush is planning on selling $800 millionof forest lands set aside as a legacy for our children and grandchildren.
Now the Department of Homeland Security has approved the sale of six major US ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. This has created a bipartisan uproar in Congress as UAE was the operational and financial base for the alleged hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks. UAE was also a transfer point for smuggled nuclear components by a Pakastani scientist.
So, this is how it declines. Piece by piece our country is sold off to the highest bidder while our hope of manufacturing something to sell the world is traded off for tax breaks for billion dollar corporations and the blame is placed on the labor force that built this great country for wanting the dignity of making a living wage. The ones who children are now off fighting a war of conquest designed to insure that those who have profitted most from this system never have to face the consequences of their actions.
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9 comments:
See this is why I am so cynical and angry though all the time, because I don't see how we can possibly get out of this. How do you sleep? When people ask me why I spend so much time organizing, doing things I do... I can only say that its because I don;t know what else to do. We are failing the children, and the shit WILL hit the fan. And people are just interestes in their cheap wal mart crap, watching Daytona, and eating mcnuggets. Why doesn't this bother people?
Hear hear! Perfectly put. I was trying to get my mind around all these idiocies that have been piling up this past week and wrestle them into one place, but now I don't have to do so. Can't do it any better than this. This pusillanimous prick just stole that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Hell, he stole the damn rainbow. No hope left, kids. You're on yer own...
Sleep is easy. All you have to accept is that you can't change people. They're being brainwashed on a daily basis that they need things they don't, they need to belong to groups that are unimportant, and their minds are filled with the trivial.
Lew,
Your attitude is that of a defeatist, or a nileist. Which one are you? I doubt neither, as it would make no sense you having a blog.
I don't think people have suddenly become brainwashed, I believe that they are the same folks who ran this country during wwII, only things are of course different. What makes them similar or identical is that they still want the same things in there lives,to remain alive, shelter, money, and food.
I have a feeling, a really good one, that we are going to come through this monkey fuck of a situation OK.
Bubba,
I am neither a defeatist nor a nihilist, I am a realist. At the end of WWII there was no twenty four hour news channels. There was only three networks and they switched off after midnight. After WWII, there was a booming economy in manufacturing, and the things people wanted, food, shelter, money were readily available to any one who wanted it. What will our Iraq vets come home to? A job at Wal-Mart? We have switched over from a manufacturing economy, where we made things that were of quality that the rest of the world wanted, to a service economy, where we sell each other items made in China. The Democrats and Republicans have sold out the middle class to High Priests of Expense Accounts. After WWII, a man could get a job and support the family while his wife stayed home and took care of the family. Those days have gone. Very few people are afforded the luxury of a one income family.
I feel good that you feel that we will come out of this monkey fuck of a situation OK. I, however feel that unless we change things drastically, the great country the United States was after WWII will never return.
My plans for going off the grid are now going to be accelerated. When the shit hits the fan. I won't be around to get splattered. Lew your piece was one of the most succinct I have read about umm.. hmm.. all the bad stuff. Well put.
Scary. The saddest part is the reason things have escalated to this is because our administration has little to no diplomacy skills. Clinton did. Albright and Powell did. Bush's and Condi's approach is it's our way or no way. If we hadn't invaded so many countries in their neighborhood, they wouldn't have been so threatened by us to take these measures. Who can blame them? If we were in their position, we would probably do the same thing. Until our administration learns to engage in dialog and to realize the solution lays in a mutually beneficial compromise, relations will get worse and worse. The news keeps talking about if they have a weapon, they'll use it. I hope not, but I'm sick of worrying that we'd be the obvious target due to our inability to communicate and our repeated attempts to bully the Middle East. I say if they get a weapon, let's put Bush and everone who has failed with Iran onto a boat in the middle of the Atlantic. That way if they really want to take them out, they won't take out the rest of DC with them- was going to say I'm joking, but I guess I'm only half joking about this.) Peace.
well said all.
this is one of the most important and least reported of all the stories regarding the middle east (thought it is obviously not as important as the ongoing murder)
Kathleen,
i know the news keeps talking like Iran has a weapon or are building one, but they are still years away from having one. They said the same thing about Iraq, and no weapons were ever found. the corporate media has become a propaganda machine for the war for dollar imperialism.
Fool me once.....
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